Why focus on expanding the infrastructure of Black-owned businesses?

• There’s an expectation by lenders that entrepreneurs should be able to raise initial capital through friends and family. However, we know that white Americans have 11 times more wealth than Black Americans.
• Only 1 % of start-up capital accrues to Black entrepreneurs.
• The average white business starts with $107,000 and the average Black business only has $35,000.
• Black individuals represent 14.2% of the US population but only 2.2% of employer businesses.
• If Black-owned businesses were equivalent to their representative size of the U.S. population, there would be 806,218 more Black-owned businesses.
• Black-owned businesses are much more likely to hire Black workers.
• 90% of all new businesses do not have any outside investors, and often use equity in their homes to start their firms, but property values in Black neighborhoods are significantly undervalued and Black homeownership rates are significantly less than white homeownership rates, effectively removing this option for many would-be Black business owners.\
• Black-owned businesses have higher loan denial rates and than white-owned businesses even after controlling for credit-worthiness.