Wanted: Black female entrepreneurs with ideas about why you're more likely to start a business than anybody else in America yet likely to have that company grow more slowly than anyone else's.The Center for Women's Business Research, based in Washington and Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., are doing a study in five cities to figure out what the challenges are for businesswomen of color and how to better address them.I'm sure the comments page for this post would save some of the money the sponsors, which include Wachovia Bank, Wal-Mart and Wells Fargo, are spending on traveling to five cities to hear about problems that have been routinely discussed for years: most women in the business world have experienced sexism in some form that may affect how their business grows. Add that to the lack of capital and in some cases experience or connections that are too common to minority entrepreneurs and you're probably on the right track.
In either event, the results of the research are due out next year. The next session takes place in San Francisco July 11; to participate, you have to be a female entrepreneur of color running a company with between $250,000 and $5 million in annual revenues and willing to give up a day of your time.
More details are at www.womensbusinessresearch.org
Comments: (4)
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By: LTS on 8/23/2007 12:57PM
There are over 1.2 Million Black Owned businesses that are registered in this country, and there are thousands more that I am sure exist. We need to patronize our businesses so that we can create jobs for our community, and to eradicate many of the social ills that plaque Black America. Please go to www.black411.net to understand how we are simplyfying finding Black businesses across the Country. The Black 411...The Time is Now...We Can't Afford to Wait...www.black411.net
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By: Dawn Washington on 8/24/2007 2:10PM
Well I am a black 35 year old woman with 5 kids and I am trying very hard to get my virtual assistanct business off the ground. It is very true that we need to patronize our businesses. There are very educated and talented black women in the world and we need to be heard.
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By: qne on 8/24/2007 2:26PM
To be truthful a lot of us can't afford the start up cost and the advertisement cost that is charged these days. The marketing has to be done by entreprenaur if they can't afford the cost. Would you say that because they can't afford it they should not start a business?
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By: Wykeena Stephens on 10/02/2007 9:32AM
I'm a 42 year old married woman with 3 kids. I have decided to open a child care facility. I live in an area of about 158,000 people. There is only one facility that is owned by an african american (woman). The start up cost is very expense, but I'm determined to keep pushing forward. If one bank says no, I'll go to the next, someone will eventually say yes.
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