Characteristics of the minority entrepreneur

The prospect of being your own boss, running your own business and creating your own ideas is a glamorous one to many people; however, this endeavor involves considerable risk, hard work, and sacrifice. For the minority business owner, the obstacles and risks are perhaps greater than for other entrepreneurs and the chances of success are lower.

It is estimated that over 1.4 million new businesses will be created in 1986. More than 50 percent of these businesses will fail within the first two years of operation. For the minority-owned business, the failure rate will be much higher, due primarily to a lack of training and experience in business management.

In spite of these difficulties, the number of minority entrepreneurs is increasing. This increase reflects the difficulty many middle management-level minorities have in entering senior-level executive positions. Bureau of the Census statistics indicate that between 1973 and 1983 the number of blacks self-employed in occupations other than agriculture rose by 51 percent to 506,000 individuals, while the number of self-employed whites rose by only 29 percent. This trend toward increasing minority self-employment is continuing. The purpose of the survey research conducted in the present study was to document some of the characteristics and skills

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