Minority-owned small businesses face unique, steep hurdles amid coronavirus cash crunch.
Of the more than 30 million small businesses in the United States, it is estimated that 11 million are owned by racial and ethnic minorities. Statistically, immigrants in the country are more likely to start and own small businesses than non-immigrants and are more likely to hire employees at faster rates than non-immigrants.
Marcos Rivera has followed in his father’s footsteps and owns his own Latin-inspired restaurant in the Chicago area, Libertad. Rivera told ABC News that his father was an immigrant from Mexico, who started as a dishwasher and eventually owned a few restaurants of his own. The restaurants were family affairs, with all of the children helping out.
“The federal government is trying to do a lot in a very small amount of time, so I would not fault them entirely. They are trying to deploy the capital quickly and that means you don’t have time to run all the materials through every language, but that has created a vacuum that we and others are trying to fill,” Lamar Heystek, president of the non-profit minority business advocacy group ASIAN, Inc. told ABC News.
The CBC pointed to a “history and legacy” of racial inequality in banking and credit systems, which they see hurting minority businesses owners in this case. In short, white business owners have been more likely to receive credit in the past, and now, in a moment of crisis, as banks default to lending to their familiar customers, minority-owned small businesses could once again be denied and excluded at disproportionate rates.
The Department of Treasury signaled Tuesday that it was working to expand the amount of funds available to small businesses through some of the emergency lending programs. Still, such a wide range of small businesses competing for this emergency capital, there is great anxiety among owners of very small businesses that they might get overlooked.
“These small business are the fabric of our communities. I don't have Boeing here. I have my neighborhood store,” she added. Chung said she worried about clients or hers and members of her local community who run cash-only businesses or family-run small firms who have limited bookkeeping.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
Similar News:Vous pouvez également lire des articles d'actualité similaires à celui-ci que nous avons collectés auprès d'autres sources d'information.
New Yorkers Step Up to Help Mom-and-Pop BusinessesOne New Yorker says he is partly motivated to help mom-and-pop shops for selfish reasons: 'If all these stores go out of business, what happens to your neighborhood life and property values?”
Lire la suite »
India's small businesses struggle to pay wages amid coronavirus lockdownHundreds of thousands of cash-starved Indian small businesses have either deferred or cut their workers' wages this month, say industrialists and union leaders, amid a 21-day nationwide lockdown to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Lire la suite »
Treasury preparing to seek more than $200 billion to replenish small business coronavirus programThe Treasury Department is asking for more than $250 billion to replenish a new small business loan program that's being quickly spent down.
Lire la suite »
Coronavirus small-business aid program could ultimately need $1.8 trillion in funding, analyst saysSmall businesses across America have flocked to their local banks to apply for forgivable loans backed by the Small Business Administration since the program launched last Friday, with some expressing concern that if they didn’t get their applications in quickly funding would run out.
Lire la suite »
India Partially Lifts Export Ban on Potential Coronavirus Treatment After Trump CallNormally used to treat malaria, hydroxychloroquine yielded promising yet inconclusive results in a small coronavirus trial
Lire la suite »
Marketwatch DiscoverThe optimism of small businesses in the U.S. economy suffered the biggest decline in March in 37 years — and due to the deepening coronavirus crisis that record is sure to be broken again very soon, the National Federation of Independent Business said.
Lire la suite »