In the Media

Whats Behind Detroit’s Small Business Disparity?

May 22, 2017

Anika Goss-Foster, Detroit Future City’s (DFC) executive director, shares her insight on the challenges facing minority business owners in Detroit and other cities across the country. She speaks about the importance of developing innovative and inclusive ways to address Detroit’s troubled economic climate.

Whats Behind Detroit’s Small Business Disparity?
Created by: J P Morgan Chase
May 11, 2017
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In Detroit, there are more than 40,000 Black-owned businesses. You might think that the sheer volume of minority-owned companies would help create a thriving business climate for Black entrepreneurs, but when you take a closer look at the data, a different kind of story emerges. Only 1 in 30 African-American-owned companies in Detroit has more than one employee, compared with 1 in 3 white-owned businesses.

“The numbers are still too low, and the equity gap is still too wide,” says Anika Goss-Foster, executive director of Detroit Future City (DFC). The issue, however, is not cut and dried. Michael Rafferty, vice president of small-business development at the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., says that class, as much as race, accounts for the disparity.

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