Famous Black Women Entrepreneurs: African-American business woman

In a world dominated by White Males, with the upcoming black history month, now is the time to celebrate and discuss those famous black women entrepreneurs.

Most people want to live the 'American dream' and this includes the African Americans, according to the U.S census bereau, In 2002, there were 1.2 million firms owned by black people in the America, employing around 754,000 workers and producing nearly $89 billion in revenues, sadly though this is small fry, It seems that African Americans either don't start their own businesses or they struggle to keep them afloat.

The rate for African Americans in self employment is only around 4.75% according to the Small business administration (SBA) which is about 40% that of the Caucasian self employment rate.

According the U.S. census Bureau, health care, social assistance, repair and maintenance, and retail trade are the markets that businesses owned by black people operate in, with these four accounting for 28% of black-owned business revenue. In the retail trade 54% of the revenue is made up from motor vehicle and parts dealers.

Over 53% of black owned businesses are home based according to SBA. The states with the most black owned businesses are New York, Georgia, California and Florida and that state with the highest percentage is Colombia. The map below shows the percentage of black owned businesses by state. It is no surprise that this is in close accordance with the Slave states, read Slave Trade a Turning Point in the History of Business to get a detailed look at the effect of the slave trade on global economy and business.

It has been cited that the majority of black-owned businesses start up with less than $5000 in capital which means that starting a business is much more difficult. Also the median net worth, which is defined as value of all assets, minus all liabilities on those assets, of black-owned businesses is around $23,200,compared with the median net worth for White non-Latinos is just over $76,600.

Believe it or not, Lenders are twice as likely to refuse credit to a Black-business owner than a white one based on an equal credit application. This is even more prevalent amongst black women where 47% said they have encountered obstacles in trying to obtain business finance, when you compare this to the 28% of caucasian women who said the same, this is most likely because they are viewed as less likely to succeed by lenders. The table below shows the Sources of Capital Used to Start or Acquire Employer Firms in 2002 as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau.

For me I think the most surprising statistic is that 97.1% of black-owned business have to use some form of personal money or asset to start a business as opposed to 86.5% of all who applied. Also the massive move from the average for business loans from banks, which backs up what was being said earlier about struggling to get funding. Obviously the government are trying to help the situation by offering a higher % of government loans or government guaranteed loans to black owned businesses.

The next issue is that black-owned businesses generate lower sales than other businesses. On average for every dollar that a white-owned business earns a black owned business would earn 43cents, this is based on a report by the SBA. The average annual receipts for black-owned firms were $697,000 compared with $1.6 million for white-owned firms as demonstrated by the graph below.

Despite such sobering statistics the latest SBA reports from 2009 show a positive trend when it comes to black-owned business. Especially amongst female black entrepreneurs, whereas of 2004 the NWBC says:

So I think you will agree that after reading the above the black female entrepreneur has a lot of challenges to overcome: So here are my top three Famous black women Entrepreneurs:

Beyonce is a modern singer,actor and entrepreneur, the main reason she has got spot number three is because of the sheer diversity of her activities, she sings, has writtem has a clothing line, acts. She really is a woman of many talents. According to Forbes she earnt $87million in one year and has one of the most diverse portfolios with:

• Touring and Merchandise: $14 Million
• Films: $5 Million
• Fashion: $15 Million
• Music Publishing: $8 Million
• Endorsements: $20 Million
• Tour Sponsors: $4 Million

Her business acumin and songs act as inspiration to other women which is why she is listed as number 3 in the famous black women entrpreneurs.

This lesser known entrepreneur was born Sarah Breedlove in 1867 in Louisiana, her older siblings and parents were slaves on a local plantation. She was the pioneer of the modern hair care and cosmetic industry, she was a master of marketing and she trained thousands of African Americans to be her sales associates, helping them become financially independent. She is credited as the first black African American Millionaire. She massively deserves the second spot in my Famous Black women entrepreneurs. The video below gives lot's of detailed information about this little known amazing entrepreneur.

Oprah Winfrey was born on 01/29/1954 into rural poverty in Mississippi, she was raised by her mother in a poor urban neighbourhood on welfare.

She is now the owner of Harpo Industries, O Magazine and two cable television stations. According to Forbes she was as of 2010 worth $2.75billion and has overtaken Meg Whitman the CEO and founder of ebay as the richest woman in America.

Between 2004 and 2006 she was listed as the worlds only black woman billionaire. Her poor background and massive success gives her top spot hands down.

For further information on Oprah and any of the others listed check out the links below.

1. U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Business Owners – Black-Owned Firms: 2002
2. U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy (April 2007), Minorities in Business: A Demographic Review of Minority Business Ownership
3. National Women’s Business Council (June 2006), African American Women and Entrepreneurship
4. U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, (December 2005), Minority Entrepreneurship
5. U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, (Oct. 29, 2009), Small Businesses Are Important Players in U.S. Business and Growth