Today’s Solutions: March 10, 2025

At the beginning of the pandemic, between February and April 2020, Black business ownership in the US suffered a dramatic drop of more than 40 percent. According to a report from the House committee on small businesses, this was the largest drop experienced by any racial or ethnic group.

Then, when the government began to offer financial support to businesses, Black business owners received fewer small business grants than their white counterparts. As reported by The Guardian, pay-check protection program funds only reached 29 percent of Black applicants but reached 60 percent of white applicants.

However, despite these disadvantages, new research from Robert W. Fairlie, an economist from the University of California Santa Cruz, Black business ownership has experienced a boost from pre-pandemic levels of almost 30 percent. And a big contributor to this boost? Black female entrepreneurs.

According to the Biden Administration, women of color are the fastest-growing group of female entrepreneurs.

At a time when folks are rethinking their lives and choices, it is not surprising that more Black women are electing to become CEOs of their own companies rather than waiting for their intelligence and skills to be recognized at their current firms,” says Melissa Bradley, founder of 1863 Ventures, an agency for Black and brown entrepreneurs.

The pandemic has also given rise to a new level of job insecurity. People were forced to explore alternative options, which includes starting a business of their own, and many were also given the opportunity to consider whether they wanted to remain in employment with inadequate pay, lack of childcare options, and instances of workplace discrimination.

If you start your own business, some of these obstacles may not be as acute as if you were relying on employment from someone else,” says Wells Fargo chief economist, Jay H. Bryson.

Whatever the case may be, the pandemic has certainly resulted in a unique environment allowing women of color to act on their desire to take more control over their work life; the emergence of female Black business owners and the continued leveling of the entrepreneurial playing field reflects this.

Solutions News Source Print this article
More of Today's Solutions

From ocean icon to world’s largest artificial reef: the final voyage of the S...

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The SS United States, once a gleaming symbol of American engineering might, is charting a new course beneath ...

Read More

Is soursop the “anticancer” super-fruit or just a tropical treat?

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM If you’ve never heard of soursop, you’re not alone. This spiky green fruit, also known as graviola, recently ...

Read More

“Dramatic” success in clinical trials of asthma treatment

According to the AAFA, around 25 million people in the U.S. have asthma, about one in every 13 people. This long-term disease causes swelling ...

Read More

AI makes wind farms safer for birds— a win for green energy expansion

For years, concerns over the potential harm wind turbines might cause to birds have been an obstacle to the expansion of wind energy. However, ...

Read More