Black people are 10% more likely to believe entrepreneurship is a good career choice than white or Hispanic people and are about twice as likely as white people to start running a business, according to the 2020/2021 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor United States Report, which was published earlier this month.
However, Black people fear failure more than the other groups, and report more closures than white people. Times of Entrepreneurship has profiled many of these trends: See: A Kansas City Entrepreneur Whose Ambitions Include more than Profits.
One-half of entrepreneurs were motivated to start a venture in 2020 because jobs were hard to find, a 22% increase from 2019. The researchers surveyed 2,000 Americans during late summer and early fall of 2020.
More women kept their businesses open last year than men — 5.4% of women reported closing a business compared to 6.8% of men. They’re also more likely to cite making a difference in the world as a reason for starting a business than men, who cite growing wealth. Still, women are less likely than men to perceive opportunity in entrepreneurship and less likely to believe they are capable, according to the report.
The pandemic introduced new business opportunities for 54% of entrepreneurs and 43% of business owners, the report found.
Unsurprisingly, most entrepreneurs said that starting a business during the pandemic was more difficult than the previous year, and more than half of business owners stopped some of their core business activities altogether because of the pandemic.
The United States researchers are based at Babson College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The team is one of 43 that publishes GEM reports globally.
“The GEM report sheds light on the fact that there are many Black entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs who are waiting on the sidelines and want to get on the escalator to do this right,” Jeffrey Shay, the executive director for academic operations at Babson College’s The Arthur M. Blank School for Entrepreneurial Leadership, said in the release. “so the report supports efforts to increase opportunities.”
