America's entrepreneurs play a vital role in the stability and prosperity of our national economy. They take the risk necessary to create wealth and employment opportunities, develop innovative products, and introduce new business practices into the marketplace. This importance extends far beyond America's borders, as the U.S. demographic changes; it is critical that we use the entrepreneurial talent available in all our communities to maintain a growing national economy.

A recent study of new business starts revealed some interesting facts. First, new business starts are up 35 % over this period last year. Secondly, minorities actually lead the U.S. in new business starts. More specifically, the report shows that Blacks are more than 50% more likely than whites or Hispanics to report that they are in the process of starting a business. Further, 26 out of every 100 Black men with graduate education experience report efforts to start a new business as opposed to 10 out of every 100 White men with the same education level.

Unfortunately, 50% of those startups fail within the first two years. The reasons given for failure vary but the most common reason for failure is the lack of proper funding. With the recent developments in the U.S., one would believe that perhaps funding is not available. However, contrary to that belief, the National Venture Capital Association reported that $4.6 billion or 11% of venture capital funds go unused yearly because venture capitalist and entrepreneurs lack the resources to connect with each other. Even when funds are available, there remain significant disparities between minority and non-minority owned firms in terms of acquiring those needed funds.

In 1997, there were 3,039,033 minority -owned firms in the US generating $591.3 billion in gross receipts with over 4.5 million employees. In addition, growth rates in both numbers and gross receipts of minority -owned firms substantially exceeded those of non-minority firms between 1992 and 1997. Additionally, it has been found that minority owned businesses are frequented by minorities. With the Black "Buying Power" on the rise, as reported by International Demographics Inc, minority owned businesses should continue to develop and prosper.

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