That is until a community push to support Black businesses turned the tides on what could have been the final blow to her family’s dream. In 2020, research from the University of Santa Cruz reported that 41% of Black-owned businesses closed during the pandemic, compared to 17% of white-owned businesses. Jice Johnson, the founder of the Black Business Initiative in Colorado, says while the statistics are promising, there are still a lot of challenges ahead for new businesses. "Ninety-six percent of Black-owned businesses are single-member LLCs and self-proprietorships. Johnson says many of these problems Black-owned businesses faced before the pandemic are present, like a lack of employees and collateral.

Source: Ethiopian News February 23, 2023 19:49 UTC