Starting a small business is challenging in and of itself, with about 20% of small businesses failing in their first year. This only increases after the first year with 30% failing after the second year, 50% after five years and 70% after 10 years. Throw a pandemic into the mix and that hurts your chances even more. With store closures and shelter-in-place mandates, many small-business owners thought it better to close permanently rather than risk bankruptcy.
Even without the rough conditions created by an unprecedented pandemic, minority-owned small businesses face structural and societal challenges to their viability and success. Limited access to credit, less start-up capital, and a concentration of BIPOC business ownership in the service and retail industries make for precarious business health.
California, Texas, New York, and Florida have all been hit pretty hard during the pandemic with high case numbers. California leads the pack with around 4 million cases, Texas with 3.1 million, Florida with 2.6, and New York with 2.2 million. Although they have all struggled during COVID-19, on the bright side, all four states have the highest number of BIPOC-owned small businesses.
California comes in at 1,600,000, Texas has 1,100,000, Florida with 926,002, and New York with 708,962. While population size certainly factors into these numbers, it’s a positive outlook in a world where small businesses are struggling more than ever before. Small businesses are not only crucial to our economy, but to our local communities and it’s more important now than ever to shop local and bring recognition to those businesses.
Here are a few simple ways you can support BIPOC-owned small businesses:
- Purchase a product or service
- Share their products and services on social media
- Word of mouth referrals
- Follow, like and comment on social media
