Making entrepreneurship job one. (Publisher's Page).

Clearly, the expansion of opportunities for minority-owned firms can no longer be limited to black and white. This reality was underscored earlier this year when the Feb. 27, 2002, edition of USA Today focused on numbers from the most recent U.S. Census showing that Asian- and Latino-owned businesses

surpassed black-owned enterprises in both numbers and rate of growth between 1982 and 1997. However, the article's headline, "Asian Business Owners Gaining Clout: Their Growing Success Has Shifted Power Away From Blacks," sensationalizes the numbers a bit. For example, while the growth rates of Asian (226%) and Latino (295%) businesses during that 15-year period is phenomenal, the 153% growth of black enterprises is also impressive, especially when you consider the population growth of Asians and Latinos, which is driven by booming rates of immigration, far outstrips that of blacks, which is driven primarily by birth rates.

Still, putting aside the impact of persistent racism in American industry (including the reality that, given a growing menu of groups pursuing a limited number of businesses opportunities earmarked for minority-owned enterprises, diversity provides a politically effective way for decision makers in media, industry, and government to play one group off another), the increasing growth and diversity of businesses owned by Americans of color represent great opportunities for African Americans. They also present some significant challenges, not the least of which is a more competitive environment.

First, because our businesses, generally speaking, have been around longer than other minority-owned firms, we have been established in more mature, slower growth--and, too often, no-growth-industries. We must move more aggressively into the newer, faster growing businesses, including telecommunication and technology, which ethnic minorities who are more recent arrivals to America have targeted for opportunity.

Second, we need to place a higher priority on entrepreneurial education in our communities. In part because the burgeoning Asian and Latino populations are more likely to be comprised of relatively new Americans, they are more likely to see entrepreneurship, not careerism, as their primary means of establishing themselves economically. Conversely, African Americans have generally made a secure, well-paying occupation a higher priority, with entrepreneurship serving as, at best, Plan B. We at BLACK ENTERPRISE have worked to change this by aggressively promoting entrepreneurial education, particularly to our black youth.

The good news is that we are making progress on both fronts. More African Americans are making their marks in the industries driving the 21st century economy. It's worth noting that nearly 20% of the nation's largest black-owned industrial/service businesses, including the top two companies, are in technology and telecommunications. And African Americans, especially younger generations, are more entrepreneurially ambitious than ever before. Census numbers show that between 1992 and 1997, the growth rates of black, Latino, and Asian businesses are a statistical dead heat--between 26% and 30%, versus 7% for all U.S. firms. That is strong evidence that diversity can provide a competitive advantage for all of American industry.