New data released today as part of a collaboration between Operation HOPE, America’s largest nonprofit financial inclusion organization, and SurveyMonkey sheds light on what it's like to be a Black small business owner or aspiring entrepreneur today.
As part of this effort, Operation HOPE and SurveyMonkey developed the HOPE Minority Small Business Index. This index is intended to help quantify the experiences and hopefulness of Black small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. Each question touches on a different aspect of their experience, from hope for reaching their business goals, to mentorship, to their tolerance for risk, to their access to capital, and finally, future paths for success for Black small business owners.
This inaugural survey consisted of 1,167 Black small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs who are participating in HOPE’s signature One Million Black Business and Entrepreneur Initiative (1MBB) and its other entrepreneurial training programs throughout the U.S. This first survey HOPE Index score is 67 out of a possible 100, to be tracked over time.
Key findings include:
- Most Black aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners find the odds stacked against them in building their businesses: 79% say minority entrepreneurs are much less likely to succeed in building a business compared with whites.
- Despite what they perceive as long odds, nearly as many (69%) are counting on their small business as their primary source of income, and to compound the existing hurdles, 58% lack access to capital today.
- The pandemic adds yet another strain: 77% say COVID-19 will have permanent effects on the way they run or start their business.
A few glimmers of HOPE exist:
- Virtually all (98%) Black small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs are hopeful they will succeed in reaching their business goals.
- Fully 86% expect their revenue to increase in the next 12 months; over twice the shares of small business owners nationwide.
- Almost three-quarters (74%) expect tech innovation to have a positive effect on their business; again, over two times the shares of small business owners nationwide.
Read more about our polling methodology here.
Click through all the results in the interactive toplines below:
