Equal opportunity has finally come full-term on the American business landscape. As we approach the half-century mark since Martin Luther King gave his famous, “I have a Dream” speech, Mr. King’s dream is becoming a reality.
Not only are record numbers of minorities finding their way to self-employment, women are doing so in record numbers, as well. According to the Center for Women’s Business Research, firms owned by women of color are growing at five times the rate of all U.S. firms. Between 1997 and 2006, the number of privately-held firms that are 51% or more owned by women of color grew by 120%, while all U.S. Firms grew by 24%. Specifically, businesses owned by African-American women grew by 147%, while those owned by Hispanic women grew by 121%.
Minority-owned businesses across the board are up, as well. As expanding markets create niches for small business, opportunity abounds. Once repelled by societal constraints and formidable startup costs, more and more minorities and women are discovering they can start their own business with minimal investment.
Much of this is facilitated by the home-based business phenomenon. Experts estimate that 34 million to as many as 40 million home-based businesses now exist in the United States. Home-based businesses now represent somewhere around 33% of the American workforce!
Their success rate is better than that of the traditional bricks-and-mortar startups, too. They last longer, become profitable more quickly, and are more conveniently maintained. Women with children have found the home-based business revolution especially enticing.
With government grants and loans readily available and accessible, minority business opportunities continue to rise. Local, state and federal governments are compelled to enforce equal opportunity by ensuring that a representative number of contracts they award are given to businesses owned by a recognized minority. From in-home health care to construction projects, minorities are competing for lucrative contracts.
But what if you do not have the background or expertise to compete in such specialized fields? Many opportunities still exist. The Information Age, fueled and facilitated by the expansive growth of the Internet, continues to open doors to new business opportunities for minorities.
According to U.S. Census of business owners, in 1982, Ethnic minorities owned just 7% of the businesses in the U.S. By 2002, the percentage had grown to 18%. Says ethnicmajority.com, “America is rapidly becoming the land of the self-employed…For Ethnic minorities, starting their own businesses is a natural alternative to bumping up against the glass ceiling and fighting workplace discrimination.”
For many minorities, America has finally become what she was always intended to be: “the land of opportunity.” While corporate America ebbs and flows, growing and then cutting back in accordance with global markets, small business owners, entrepreneurs ready to claim their own stake in the American dream, continue to expand. And minority business owners are leading the way.
Every day, brave men and women are swapping their fear of failure for the chance to do something special, something significant for themselves and their families. What about you? What is your dream? Isn’t it time you set fear and apprehension aside and believed in yourself? What are you prepared to do?
Someone has said, “Success results when preparation meets opportunity.”
Well, opportunity is knocking. Are you prepared to open the door?
Related Terms:Asian American Business Opportunities, Women Business Opportunities, African American Business Opportunities, American Indian Business Opportunities, Native Hawaiian Business Opportunities, Pacific islander Business Opportunities
