Business dynamos

Black Enterprise, August, 1998 by Cassandra Hayes

Black women are making inroads in the world of business. Like these three, you can tap exciting markets and achieve entrepreneurial success.

THERE IS A QUIET, YET POWERFUL REVOLUTION happening right now in the small business world. Right before your eyes, black women are making more strides and gains than ever before.

According to a recent survey, minority women-owned business compose one of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. economy. In 1996, 13% of the nearly 8 million women-owned business in the nation were owned by minority women (Asian, black, Hispanic, Native American/Alaska Native). The number of firms increased 153% between 1987 and 1996, twice the rate of all women-owned firms and three times faster than all U.S. companies. They employed nearly 1.7 million people and generated some $184.2 billion in sales annually.

In the survey, Women Business Owners of Color: Challenges and Accomplishments, conducted by the National Foundation for Women Business Owners (NFWBO) in Silver Spring, Maryland, a total of 679 women business owners were interviewed, 111 of them African American. The minority women gave many reasons for starting their own businesses. The need to be their own boss was the main one, with 59% of the black women citing the need for more flexibility whited women also said the "glass ceiling" prevented them from advancing in their careers, hence, their decision to move into entrepreneurial ventures.

One startling finding was that black women-owned firms lagged in employment and sales growth behind businesses owned by Hispanic and Asian women. "A significant reason for this may be because black women business owners are far more likely to have started their businesses on a part-time basis while holding down another job, and far more likely to have started their business alone rather than with others," says NFWBO Chair Lois E. Haber.

Studies have long shown that black women , have the least access to mentors. Yet, a highlight of this survey is that 52% of black women had mentors when starting their firm. They were also more likely than any other group to have sought out training and advice. The study also noted that their support networks were made up of a variety of business advisors and associations, including churches or other religious organizations.

Problems that cut across all color lines included the long hours associated with business ownership, the responsibility and total commitment, financial burdens, keeping up with technology, access to capital and problems with employees. Yet, despite these difficulties, 90% of black, white and Native American/Alaska Native women said they would choose business ownership if they had the chance to do it over again.

The stories of the following three entrepreneurs exemplify the growth and success of businesses owned by women of color. The fortitude, foresight and fervor of these women have helped them make a mark for themselves while paving the way to new and evolving business frontiers.

AMSALE ABERRA

Business strategy: Offer a unique quality product and control distribution and growth

To many new or about-to-be brides, Vera Wang is the standard-bearer in simple and elegant wedding dresses. But before there was Wang, there was Amsale.

The custom-order bridal house nestled in New York's fashion district is the brainchild of, its founder and president, Amsale Aberra, who started her business on sheer gut instinct and necessity. While planning her 1985 wedding to former HBO programming executive Neil Brown, Aberra surveyed all the rhinestone, bead and lace laden gowns that abounded and saw nothing that whetted her appetite for a minimalist bridal gown. This prompted the Ethiopian native to design her own. A year later, she turned something old into some-thing new.

By shunning the overly ornate wedding gown designs of the past and bringing forth classic, clean and sophisticated versions, she fulfilled the wedding dress dreams of many women. "There were questions in my mind about whether there was a demand for such a dress. I thought, was I the only one who wanted a simple gown?" says 44-year-old Aberra. "I took no formal surveys, but asked married people and those in the bridal industry who showed an interest." It all began with a $13,000 full-page ad in Bride Magazine featuring only a photo of one of her dresses, her name and phone number, The phones rang off the hook the week the magazine hit the stands. In 1986, Aberra--with the business insight of her Harvard M.B.A./J.D. husband and $50,000 of their own money--launched Amsale.

Aberra, who now has an 11-year-old daughter named Rachel, developed her, penchant for stylish clothes as a child growing in Addis Ababa. She and her sister regularly made their clothes. The daughter of an Ethiopian government mini Aberra left home in 1973 to study political science Mountain Junior College in Vermont. When the Ethiopian government was toppled only months after her arrival in her father was imprisoned, abruptly ending her flow of funds.