Supporting Minority Entrepreneurs To Reach Scale

Over 250 organizations in the United States are dedicated to supporting Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs. Data collected by Endeavor Insight indicates that 85% of these organizations work exclusively with entrepreneurs at the idea-development or startup stages. 

While this encourages more minority entrepreneurs to create businesses, it is companies that scale upwards that drive economic development. Only 20% of Black-owned businesses have 10+ employees, but these companies generate nearly 65% of the revenues and 80% of the jobs found among Black-owned firms. Similarly, only 17% of Hispanic-owned businesses have 10+ employees. These companies have created roughly 65% of the revenues and more than 70% of the jobs found among Hispanic-owned firms.

Only 15% of organizations working with Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs support them beyond the startup stage. As a result of our findings, EndeavorLAB was launched in 2020 as an accelerated growth program focused on guiding early-stage minority founders in South Florida to reach a larger scale by connecting them to experienced mentors that can support them in their challenges and provide guidance on how to grow their businesses.

Endeavor Insight shows that long-term benefits generated by founders of color who have effectively scaled their companies include:

• Passing down accumulated knowledge and social capital that can be shared with their children and other members of their communities
• Increased hiring of minority employees
• Philanthropic initiatives to give back to the community
• Creation of multi-generational wealth

Successful minority entrepreneurs guide the next generation towards scaling up for themselves, compounding the benefits created by the first generation. With that in mind, EndeavorLAB Cohort Two was launched in 2021 to help more of Florida’s Black entrepreneurs achieve scale in their businesses and perpetuate the aforementioned successes. Moreover, since minority entrepreneurs tend to be undercapitalized, we’ve structured our programs to include an Access to Capital component and provide interaction with the region’s investors through Demo Days. This edition of EndeavorLAB offers our tools, services, and network to help the Black community-scale their ventures, ultimately promoting Black-led entrepreneurship as one of the catalysts of economic growth in Miami.

Research for this blog post can be found on Endeavor’s Insight Report, “How to help more Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs reach scale” Additional reporting provided by Endeavor staff member Eric Marroquin.