Unique Challenges Faced By Black Women Entrepreneurs

The gender gap remains in the usual places for all women. Women get less pay than men, experience longer career pauses with time out for children and other dependents. In essence, women save less for retirement than men.

Despite facing challenges, women are gaining ground. Slowly, women are reaching higher corporate levels and increasingly starting their own businesses.

While non-minority women starting up their own businesses have their share of difficulties, black women entrepreneurs are further impacted by racial discrimination. This adds more pressures to developing their businesses. On the positive side, black women-owned business have been growing significantly faster.

These women made their moves to start their own businesses because of poor treatment and feeling undervalued in the workplace. The women in the focus groups expressed determination, passion and faith in themselves as self-learners.

With Growing Success, Black Women Entrepreneurs Need:

1. To Secure Capital For Their Growing Businesses Black women are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs. The number of startups founded by black women have more than doubled. However, they need funding to feed their growing businesses.

2. A Strong Support System Having a supportive network and mentoring are critical at all stages. Finding a network and a mentor is important. According to a UPS survey of small business owners, 70% of those receiving some form of mentoring survived five or more years. That is double the rate of those who did not receive that support.

3. A Greater Work/Life Balance Working women executives who suffer from work/life balance issues often consider starting up their own businesses as an antidote. Women still tend to shoulder more work-related to the household and child-rearing, even among couples who set out to share the workload equally.

Black women entrepreneurs have made significant strides in owning their businesses. They represent the fastest growing subsegment of entrepreneurs. They also face double discrimination with real gender and diversity gaps when raising funds and need support.

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