Women of Color Business Owners

Last week I had the privilege to attend a briefing on Capitol Hill to hear the results of a three year study on Women of Color Business Owners presented by the Center for Women’s Business Research.  I was interested in this two day event for a number of reasons, one, because I am an independent book publisher and two because it’s part of the work I do for my firm’s supplier diversity program.  What I found most fascinating was that these statistics had never been gathered before.  I was a part of history on Capitol Hill that day.  It boggles my kid’s mind that they live in a day in age where we still participate in Black History “firsts.

It was very disheartening to hear that the AVERAGE annual revenue for African-American business owners was only $38,000.

Special thanks to the elected officials that took the time to actually walk down the hall and meet with us personally, Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick and Congressman Mike Honda (totally funny guy)

Hearing the testimony of women of color business owners was very enlightening.  A few threads that I caught throughout the conference was that they were expected to “out perform” other women in terms of proving themselves worthy of credit and capital, they gave up marriages in many cases, they started business that were not far from their former careers.

I was really touched to hear some powerful and moving stories of true grit.  All of the speakers were inspiring.  I especially enjoyed the words of the great-great-granddaughter Madame C.J.Walker.  I was impressed to see how the legacy of Madame Walker was alive right before my eyes, to empower women to start businesses and simultaneously give back to the community.

photo of Carolyn Kilpatrick taken with my iPhone

Comments

[George Waters]

"It was very disheartening to hear that the AVERAGE annual revenue for African-American business owners was only $38,000."

Although this is a sad commentary of our times, we can change this number. The key is to start encouraging young African American women to consider career options in business ownnership early in life, provide entreprenuerial education opportunities in schools and develop business mentoring programs within African American social and faith based organizations.

George E. Waters, Jr. CEO
EDTEC, Inc.- The New Youth Entrepreneur
www.edtecinc.com
gwaters@edtecinc.com

[Blair Landon]

That number is very dismal, but I have faith that if people just put there minds to it we could open more business and generate more revenue. Microsoft just launched a website geared towards women who want to open their own business. The website has helpful resources like easy design websites for first time users.

I'm an official Microsoft ambassador and right now we're really trying to scale up our connections with influential bloggers like yourself. I'd love to share with you some of the stuff we've been doing in the last couple months to help women entrepreneurs; we're really committed to providing all the necessary resources to help women start, grow and expand their business.
We just wrapped up a women's entrepreneurial tour across the US called “Vision To Venture;” the response and turn-out was great!
I'd really love your take on some of the offerings we have right now; I would have contacted you via email but I didn't know which was the best way to reach you.

Thank you so much, I hope I didn't overstep my bounds by directly contacting you. Definitely get back to me if I’ve piqued your interest-- I’d love to share more info with you.

Best,
Blair Landon
Official Microsoft Ambassador
blair.landon@live.com