Virginia, Arkansas, Georgia, New York, and Ohio are the top five states for African Americans to operate a business. The findings are from the annual rating by the 12th National Black Business Month. In the #BLACKDOLLARSMATTER: State of Black Business, 12th edition report. There are 10 key factors that are evaluated for black business success, and a lot of states score higher than the federal government; notes National Black Business Month Co-founder John William Templeton. August is officially the observance for National Black Business Month, which also was co-founded by entrepreneur Frederick E. Jordan.
[Related: Celebrating Black Business]
“Almost half the states recognize the dramatic shortage of capital and have created targeted loan programs for black and/or minority businesses,” states Templeton. “Yet only 2% of SBA loans go to African American firms.” The same ratio holds for federally-financed transportation spending and for federal procurement.
#BLACKDOLLARSMATTER gives the administration an incomplete grade for failing to take advantage of the tools provided in Dodd-Frank to monitor the race of business loan applicants or to boost procurement with black firms. A prime objective during August, is encouraging $3.1 billion in deposits to black-owned banks, which could leverage the $30 billion needed in business credit at a minimum by black businesses.
Dozens of African American entrepreneurs with industrial game-changing products are highlighted both in the report and in special pages of Templeton’s online resource, BlackMoney.com. Templeton also announced he’s taking a 10th anniversary Katrina tour through Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee, to follow up on how Katrina and BP recovery spending is being allocated in the Black Belt.