The American Express OPEN Forum recently reported on the state of entrepreneurship among African-Americans and among Hispanics. Here are some highlights.

With regard to African-American entrepreneurs, Anthonia Akitunde notes that:

“But the small-business owners we spoke to aren’t defined by those barriers. ‘There are more new and existing black businesses making more,’ says Robert Smith of RSA Public Relations. ‘Yes, racism and prejudice still exists when it comes to funding, customer acquisition, etc., but you can’t let that stop you.’ There are numbers to back Smith up—black women are among the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs, and the revenue the largest black-owned businesses are pulling in has grown rapidly over the years. I spoke to several black small-business owners to learn about their hopes and concerns for their businesses, as well as their thoughts on the state of Black entrepreneurship in 2016.”

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Photo: iStock

With regard to Hispanic entrepreneurs, Phaedra Hise notes that:

“Hispanic-owned businesses have nearly doubled in number over the past 10 years—to more than 3.2 million, generating $475 billion in annual revenue. What’s interesting is that this trend is occurring nationwide, not just in traditional Hispanic strongholds like Miami and Los Angeles. Hispanic-owned business is also booming in middle America towns like Louisville, Kentucky, thanks to a swelling wave of institutional and government support, an increase in educational opportunities and a deeply embedded culture of entrepreneurship among Hispanic immigrants.”

“OPEN Forum profiled three cities with very different pockets of Hispanic business ownership and looked at the factors that are driving their success.”

Click the image to read more from Hise.

Photo: Messier & Associates