More Black Women Are Building Businesses But Scaling Is the Real Battle No One Talks About
There are plenty of viral posts and pieces which highlight the fact that Black women are the 'fastest-growing entrepreneur demographic' in the US and since non-UK born (and raised) individuals are the fastest growing entrepreneur demographic in the UK I tend to believe that we’re not too far off here either. It should be cause for celebration but to me it’s not something to celebrate unless we can look at the full picture and unpack the truth. I’ve been self-employed for many years - I won’t bore you with exact dates but let’s just say that I have seen a lot of things in my time as an entrepreneur. One of the things that I have seen is that Black women led/founded businesses being launched but facing immense challenges when it comes to scaling, leadership, operations management and logistics. Stateside we saw this with Ami Colé and Hanifa, in the UK we saw this with Plantmade and 4.5.6 Skin - there are many more examples. Please be aware that there is also certain context that can’t be unpacked for each of the examples mentioned however there’s still something significant that needs to be addressed: the fact that Black women may be starting businesses but they’re struggling to scale and even keep them.
According to a 2026 report by Wells Fargo there are 2 million+ Black women-owned businesses in the USA which are generating at least $118 billion and yet Black women-owned employer firms had the lowest average revenue at just $650,000 (2026 Wells Fargo IWOB report). This means not only are they having to work with less in order to grow there will always be tension and stress compounded in their day to day operations. In the first half of 2025, nearly 300,000 Black women exited the US labour force and so it makes sense that more than a few decided to start their own businesses or become independent practitioners however the economic impact on a collective level of this level of job loss cannot be ignored. If your potential customers and clients are out of work who can buy from yo? That is not to say that Black women-founded businesses only target other Black women but it is an important point to consider.
It is often the case that running a business or becoming self-employed is the solution to the problem of inherent social exclusion and discrimination. I know for me that struggling to find a role that reflected my ambition pushed me into entrepreneurship, I had no safety net and come from a working class background but I gave it my best shot. It’s also technically “easier” to turn a side hustle into a business now with digital tools and community support your idea can become a reality much faster than ever before. That being said for some Black women founders there is a very real question of necessity entrepreneurship, having to start a business to make up for job loss/unemployment Vs opportunity entrepreneurship, identifying a gap in the market and being drawn to a space to gain freedom and independence.
But whether Black women are pushed or pulled into entrepreneurship we have to be honest about the business landscape. If less than 1% of Black women founders receive VC investment in the US and only 0.02% of UK VC investment goes to Black female entrepreneurs then we should be wary of celebrating entrepreneurship as a pipeline to ultimate success. There is a big difference between starting a business and scaling one and many Black-owned businesses remain small (not always by choice) or underfunded. I speak from experience - I chose to remain at the size and level in which I operate when I realised pretty quickly the impact it would have on my overall quality of life if I attempted to scale - I don’t like stress. I had and still have dreams of being extremely successful but have redefined what that looks like - I know for me personally what my life goals are and scaling wasn’t going to work for me but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t work for others. I’ve never attempted to flex or used social media visibility as a marker for ultimate success because I know that the “hustle narrative” is meaningless if it masks structural barriers.
@ronke_lawal Hustle culture didn't liberate Black entrepreneurs. It just gave us a more exhausting version of the same oppression. #blackenterprise #blackentrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #hustleculture ♬ original sound - Ronke Lawal
Scaling requires serious operational and financial investment - it means employing people and establishing ethical hiring practices, it means substantial growth with logistics and leadership that can support this. Too often Black women are unable to reach this level because as I mentioned earlier they are not attracting the kind of investment that they need to make an impact and very often they have to reinvest their own revenue or use their own funds. Yes they can use alternative means of investment but very often these only provide a short term cushion. We also have to factor in the impact of social capital, networks and relationships which I often discuss with my personal branding clients. The structural and institutional barriers that Black women face are immense not to mention the gatekeepers who appear when we think we’re “safe” but actual also cause just as much harm. And please don’t get me started on burnout and overwhelm as we try to do it all!
This all matters beyond the individual, Black women founders not being able to scale or grow in the ways that THEY want to does make a big difference on a community and social level. The conversation around generational wealth loses meaning if we can’t even enable wealth creation and stability, not to mention the lose of innovation on a broader scale because Black women entrepreneurs are not able to grow in a dynamic and robust way.
At this stage my advice is for investors to open up their purses - they take far bigger risks with other demographic - white men receive nearly three quarters of VC funding and yet when it comes to Black women we still have to be twice or thrice as good. In fact it gets to a point when Black excellence is no longer even a marker I suspect these investors are looking for Black miracle makers because surely they should be willing to give Black women the opportunity to try even if they fail; failure and making mistakes is part of the process of entrepreneurship. Institutions and policymakers need to look at how the gap can be addressed beyond offering mentoring schemes! Black women need more money not more motivation. They already work hard we can’t simply suggest that they should work harder in order to succeed.
Beyond all of this though we also need to be able to give Black women grace, I’m not suggesting that we make excuses for bad practices but I do think the pressure for Black women to perform and to sometimes prove themselves in business and professional spaces does more harm than good. I believe that we should dare to reimagine what success actually looks like. Scaling might not be for everyone, we don’t all need to be celebrity entrepreneurs. We can run sustainable and ethic businesses that some might subjectively classify as “boring” but which provide financial stability and enable us to grow in different ways too. There should also be opportunities for those with exciting new ideas to grow and scale at a pace which is sustainable. There should be space for it all.
Most importantly Black women deserve a chance to explore the fullness of their dreams in whatever form or shape that looks like and if that means we need to address the scaling gap to make that happen then so be it!