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(NEW YORK) – As we celebrate Black History Month, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices is releasing new survey data showing how, despite continued systemic barriers, Black-owned small businesses are optimistic in 2023. Black-owned small businesses report plans to create more jobs this year than their peers, and they expect profit increases as well despite the challenging economic environment.
Eighty-one percent of Black small business owners are optimistic about the financial trajectory of their business in 2023, a 13-percentage point increase above the optimism level (68%) for the overall small business community. Furthermore, 78% of Black-owned small business owners expect their business to increase profits in 2023, 18 points higher than the national average (60%).
Black business owners also expect to create more jobs. Sixty-seven percent of Black small business owners expect their business to create new jobs in 2023, 16 percentage points above the national average (51%).
Yet Black-owned small businesses still face systemic head winds. Thirty-seven percent of Black small business owners have found it difficult to access new capital and financing, 14 percentage points higher than their peers. Additionally, 45% of Black small business owners have dipped into their personal savings over the past three months in order to keep their business afloat (versus 33% overall).
“This Black History Month, we ought to celebrate the increasing success of Black-owned small businesses in this country,” said Jessica Johnson-Cope, President of Johnson Security Bureau in The Bronx, NY and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices National Leadership Council Chair. “However, Black business owners and entrepreneurs continue to face systemic barriers relative to their peers. Our leaders in Washington must commit to removing these obstacles and allow Black businesses like mine to thrive.”
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices is calling on Congress to reauthorize the Small Business Administration for the first time in 23 years. Modernization would improve access to capital and financing options for Black-owned small businesses, as well as simplify the certification process for minority-owned business programs.
This data is based on a survey of 1,838, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses participants, including 325 Black small business owners, conducted by Babson College and David Binder Research from January 23 – January 26, 2023. The survey included small business owners from 48 U.S. states.
ABOUT 10,000 SMALL BUSINESSES VOICES
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices is an initiative for program participants to organize and advocate for policies that matter to them. It builds on Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, which over the past decade has provided access to education, capital, and support services to more than 10,000 small business owners across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington D.C.
