EthnicMajority

(QSR Magazine) The franchise business model is an attractive option for Hispanics and other minorities to consider owning, because it is a strong avenue to take for financial success. According to the 2007 Franchised Business Ownership survey conducted by the International Franchise Association’s (IFA) Educational Foundation, minorities made up 19.3 percent of all franchisees, and Hispanic-owned franchises were 5.8 percent of the total. And the survey reported that Hispanic franchisees prefer owning quick-serve restaurants.

The quick-service industry should see this as an excellent opportunity to tap into the Hispanic demographic, and minorities in general. The Hispanic population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, makes up 15.1 percent of the population. It is estimated that this figure will double by the year 2050. Statistically, Hispanics are the fastest-growing population in the U.S.

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(Huffington Post) There's no argument that 2011 was a tough year for Latinos but their might be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Despite a stubborn unemployment rate for Latinos reaching 11.4 percent last month, Hispanic-owned businesses are growing at more than double the national rate, according to reports by the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to Forbes, this trend has been sustained for at least the last decade and manifests itself both in the growing number and size of Latino-owned businesses. During the latest 5-year period for which information is available from the Census Bureau, revenue from Latino owned businesses jumped by an astonishing 55 percent to nearly $350 billion.

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(CNN) Last night CNN aired Soledad O’Brien’s “Black in America: The New Promised Land: Silicon Valley,” which follows eight black tech entrepreneurs trying to raise equity capital in Silicon Valley. As it traces their stories, the documentary also interviews industry insiders about the dearth of tech startups led by black entrepreneurs, highlighting a CB Insights study that shows less than 1 percent of all venture capital investment went to digital startups with African-American founders in 2010.

Tomorrow Rutgers University will host a two-day summit that aims to collect ideas on encouraging investment in minority-owned businesses in struggling urban areas. Entrepreneurs, angel investors, and policymakers, including Newark mayor Cory Booker and members of The America21 Project will discuss the documentary. They’ll also listen as a selection of entrepreneurs present their businesses to a panel of venture capitalists and discuss how to develop an angel fund and a national network for minority entrepreneurs in urban areas.

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(CNN) Weeks ahead of the premiere of a CNN documentary focusing on diversity in the tech industry, the charged issue is already generating sparks. A heated debate broke out on Twitter Wednesday night after a preview screening of Black in America 4.

Blogger-turned-investor Michael Arrington ignited a controversy with his comments about the visibility of minority-led companies. In the documentary, which airs November 13, Arrington talked about his difficulties finding African-American entrepreneurs to launch their ventures at his TechCrunch Disrupt conference — and suggested he would accept almost any black entrepreneur, regardless of merit.

"There's a guy, actually, his last company just launched at our event, and he's African-American. When he asked to launch — actually, I think it was the other way around. I think I begged him," Arrington told CNN's Soledad O'Brien.

"His startup's really cool. But he could've launched a clown show on stage, and I would've put him up there, absolutely," Arrington said. "I think it's the first time we've had an African-American [be] the sole founder."

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(Red Orbit) The National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) today announced a collaboration with NuLevel Strategic Solutions, LLC, a minority-owned management consulting firm based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Nulevel has developed a set of online business tools that NMSDC will offer to its certified Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native American minority business enterprises (MBEs) to assist them in assessing financial operating capacity, business health and value relative to their respective industries. These assessment tools will be part of an on-going series called the "Biz-Fit Challenge."

"This is a great way for NMSDC to help certified suppliers take the pulse of their company, and make continuous improvements that will strengthen their businesses," said NMSDC President Joset Wright. "Only the strongest, most agile businesses can compete in this recovering economy, and NMSDC is pleased to help position our MBEs for success."

"Undercapitalization and the inability to access market opportunities are two of the greatest challenges confronting minority-owned businesses," noted David Willis, principal at NuLevel. "However, these challenges are compounded by management teams that are not spending adequate time understanding the internal dynamics of their businesses. We find that many business owners are focusing more on business development and less on overall business health. Greater focus in this area will likely lead to more profitable and sustainable growth."

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(Black Voice News) There is a silver lining in the dark cloud of the great recession. A new Census Bureau report reveals that from 2002 to 2007 the number of Black-owned businesses in the United States increased by 60.5 percent to 1.9 million – more than triple the national rate. According to Census Bureau Deputy Director, Thomas Mesenbourg, “Black-owned businesses continued to be one of the fastest growing segments of our economy, showing rapid growth in both the number of businesses and total sales during this time period.”

The reasons for this are many, beginning with the long history of African American entrepreneurship in response to poverty, high unemployment, and discrimination. Consider the case of Madam C.J. Walker, the daughter of slaves who, in the early 1900s, turned her dream of financial independence into a hair care and cosmetics business that revolutionized the beauty products industry, created good paying jobs, and made her a wealthy woman and philanthropist.

Like Madam C.J. Walker, many African Americans may have turned to entrepreneurship in the years covered by the Census Bureau study because of high unemployment in our communities. The fact is, Black unemployment never got back down to where it was before the recession in 2001. So in effect, what we are seeing is a bit of entrepreneurship by necessity. There’s also an economic independent streak, particularly among emerging generations in the Black community. Building a business gives great satisfaction and cushions them from the shock of losing jobs because of economic down cycles.

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(Huffington Post) While Wall Street financiers reap healthy profits off the backs of a bailout that U. S. taxpayers paid for and while leading U. S. businesses that could hire, incredibly, refuse to hire for reasons that make no sense to me and millions of out of work Americans, I, for one, have had enough.

I’m tired of Wall Street benefiting while Main Street USA–and far too many of those Americans who suffer in silence on our nation’s side streets–wait in frustration for a good faith show of support from those who’ve benefited from the American taxpayers.

To riff off one of our President’s favorite talking points, for those leaders who are serious about putting America’s economic interests in “drive,” I believe the keys to our nation’s economic engine should be put in the hands of small business owners–especially the growing legion of innovative African American, women- and minority-owned business owners that have a proven track record of reinvesting their talent, their financial investments and their jobs in local communities.

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(Los Angeles Times) The number of minority-owned businesses in the U.S. increased nearly 46% to 5.8 million from 2002 to 2007, according to data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau.

In the same time period, the total number of businesses increased 18% to 27.1 million.

The new data come from the Preliminary Estimates of Business Ownership by Gender, Ethnicity, Race and Veteran Status, culled from the census bureau’s 2007 survey of business owners.

The same report found that black-owned businesses rose 60.5%, Native American and Alaska Native-owned businesses climbed a combined 17.9% and the number of Hispanic businesses gained 43.6%.

Other highlights of the report:

• Of the nation’s 27.1 million businesses, roughly 5.8 million had paid employees. These businesses employed 118.7 million people, a 7.1% increase from 2002.

• Of the 5.8 million minority-owned businesses in 2007, an estimated 5 million had no paid employees.

• The number of women-owned businesses totaled 7.8 million in 2007, up 20.1% from 2002. Men-owned businesses totaled 13.9 million, up 5.5% from 2002.

• There were 1.9 million black-owned businesses in 2007, up 60.5%, with 37.6% of them in healthcare and social assistance, repair and maintenance, and personal and laundry services.

(BLR) In a move aimed at enabling small businesses to “participate in the nation’s economic recovery, including businesses owned by women, minorities, socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and service-disabled veterans of our armed forces,” President Obama recently established an interagency task force—”The Interagency Task Force on Federal Contracting Opportunities for Small Businesses.”

Stating that “the federal government is the world’s largest purchaser of goods and services, with purchases totaling over $500 billion per year,” President Obama’s task force is intended to further Congress’ goal of awarding at least 23 percent of all federal prime contracting dollars to small businesses. Congress also established governmentwide contracting goals for participation by small businesses that are located in Historically Underutilized Business Zones (at least 3 percent) or that are owned by women (at least 5 percent), socially and economically disadvantaged individuals (at least 5 percent), and service-disabled veterans (at least 3 percent).

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(Hotel Interactive) Supplier Diversity programs are at the forefront of many leading hotel companies’ initiatives and are quickly becoming an industry mainstay. In fact, many of today’s leading lodging companies are investing in diversity programs not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because companies falling under the Diversity banner are delivering real solutions to industry buyers at the right time and at the right price.

More important, these programs are not kowtowing to political correctness. In fact, hotel companies are finding themselves relying ever more on these typically smaller firms to fill gaps created by larger organizations that were overextended and succumbed to the effects of the Great Recession. Diversity classified companies are proving to be smarter and more resilient than many expected.

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