Supporting Black-Owned Businesses in Arizona: Challenges and Opportunities for Growth

The Black Employer Gap: How Black-Owned Businesses in Arizona are Working to Scale Up and Hire Employees

On the Tucson-based website BlaxFriday.com, an online directory of Black-owned businesses in Arizona, there are nearly 1,500 businesses listed. Fields range from apparel and beauty products to food services, real estate, and insurance agents. However, one thing browsers won’t find on the site is a job search button. Blax Friday creator Ashley La Russa says a career page is definitely in her long-term plans for the site, “but our primary focus is still on business owners right now.”

The main issue, La Russa says, is that many of the businesses listed still lack the capacity to hire employees. “A lot are sole proprietorships, or they’re sort of family-run — mom helping out or husband helping out,” she explained. A large percentage of Black-owned businesses are also e-commerce — individuals making and selling their goods online. “Many of them don’t have a brick-and-mortar shop,” La Russa said — although she noted that’s slowly changing.

Nationally, sole proprietorships make up a disproportionately high share of Black-owned businesses, according to a report by the Brookings Institution. Black-owned businesses in total create an average of only eight jobs per firm, compared to 22 for all businesses. “The primary barrier Black business owners face to scaling up businesses and becoming employers is access to capital, influenced by past and present discrimination,” said Andre Perry, a senior fellow at Brookings who co-authored the report.

As company standards on diversity, equity, and inclusion weaken, many non-white jobseekers are looking for workplaces where they feel better understood and supported. Businesses owned by people who look like them hold the promise of more inclusive work environments that value diversity and cultural representation.

Networking with other diverse-owned businesses is one way to increase access to capital, particularly with regard to government contracts. Bringing Black business owners together is one way that Blax Friday tries to create those networking opportunities, pairing senior business owners with younger founders to help bridge this gap.

Events like the annual Black-owned business festival and Pitch Black business pitch competitions help link business owners to others and increase opportunities to expand. Some Black-owned businesses that have opened brick-and-mortar locations have also opened the door for others in the community.

Helping diverse-owned businesses has an impact on the entire business community, not just other Black-owned enterprises. “We need to see the interconnectedness of our various groups,” said Perry. “When everyone thrives, it benefits the entire economy.”

Overall, the push for Black-owned businesses to scale up and hire employees is crucial for creating more inclusive work environments and boosting economic growth in Arizona.