Summary: The Influence Of Minority Entrepreneurship

INTRODUCTION The lack of minority diversity in business has had an extensive influence on the new wave of entrepreneurs in the U.S. According to the Minority Business Development Agency, the rate at which minority owned businesses are being formed continues to rise. The number of minority business enterprises increased 39 percent between 2007 and 2016 (from 5.8 million to 8.0 million), or more than three times faster than population growth among minorities, according to a Census Bureau's 2016 survey of business Owners. As the country's population becomes more diverse, so does its business sector. Latino-owned companies continue to boom, and businesses owned by people from South Asia (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) and East Asia (China, Korea,

Fueling the disparity is the fact that minority businesses are disproportionately represented in low growth and no growth sector. They also tend to rely on personal debt and family financing over business loans, equity, and other tools that are otherwise commonly accepted in the capital markets. As a result, the main intentions in this paper to show how minority business owners are often affected (influenced) in a manner that shapes the new wave and agenda for minority

The barriers that hold minority entrepreneurs back has varied considerably, from the lack of being able to obtain a business license, lack of access to capital, and racial discrimination. “The value of loans for minority-owned businesses are usually less than non-minority loans” (Kiger, 2016, p.19). “For minority businesses with more than $500,000 in gross revenue, the average loan amount is $149,000 (Arson, 2016, p.5)”. This quantitative research will show precisely how minority entrepreneurs are overwhelming disadvantaged to the demographic majority.

Due to “a real or perceived likelihood of rejection,” some minority-owned businesses avoid seeking loans which could prevent these businesses from reaching their potential (Kiger, 2016). Living in a society where culturally curious people are expected to be the next innovators, the lack of diversity has had an extensive influence on the millennial generation who are seeking entrepreneurship as a form of