NPR: What's Behind the Rise in Black Entrepreneurship?

What's Behind the Rise in Black Entrepreneurship?

Man and woman in a boardroom

Let's say you graduate from a Harvard or Howard, do time at an investment bank for a couple years and then make the seemingly obligatory move to get your MBA. Then what? Do you devote your best years to scaling the corporate ladder, or do you try to go it alone and make good on that business plan you've been brewing?

More and more black MBAs are doing the latter, says National Black MBA Association president Barbara L. Thomas in an essay published on BusinessWeek's Website.

According to the last Census Bureau report, the number of black-owned businesses has jumped 45 percent in the last five years. Thomas says the increase shows that "African Americans too often do not receive the support they need to succeed in the corporate world."

"Many African Americans take the entrepreneurial route at least in part because, for them, the corporate ladder is missing some rungs," she says. "They may be successful on their own, and they may be happy -- but it won't be because Corporate America tried so hard to keep them."

Can "too much" Black entrepreneurship be a bad thing? What do you think is behind the increase in black-owned businesses? Is it better to put an advanced degree to use in Corporate America or strike out on your own?

Geoffrey Bennett

3:39 PM ET | 06-22-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

Seems as though more and more people with the skills to launch out on their own and in many cases work from home are doing so. I can see why this tendency would be even more pronounced for African Americans facing extra barriers in the corporate world.

Sent by Paul Maurice Martin | 10:56 AM ET | 06-25-2007

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