CINCINNATI — A new report on Black-owned businesses in southwest Ohio and northern Kentucky estimates their economic impact on the region is expected to exceed $2.8 billion in 2023.
The Greater Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce (AACC) and the University of Cincinnati’s Greater Cincinnati Alpau Family Economic Center partnered to produce the report, which uses a database of 1,417 black-owned businesses across eight counties.
Among the key findings, the report said, are that Black-owned businesses generated $1.5 billion in direct sales and employed 9,024 people in 2023, adding that they supported an additional $1.4 billion in indirect sales and indirectly supported an additional 7,448 jobs.
“We think $2.8 billion is an attractive headline,” said AACC President Eric H. Carney, “and we want black-owned businesses to spread out and enjoy all the opportunity and growth available in Ohio.”
Carney, a former Ohio senator and current lobbyist, said Black-owned businesses have seen sustained growth in recent years, but not as quickly as expected.
“[The $2.8 billion figure] “It’s only about 2 percent of the gross domestic product of the Cincinnati metropolitan area, so it’s not a big number,” he said. [Black] The percentage of the population is about 12-14%, so if you’re making a comparison, it’s not a good comparison.”
Black-owned businesses add $2.8 billion to the Cincinnati region’s economy
Historically, entrepreneurial resources like startup capital and investors have not been as accessible to people of color.
“Becoming a business owner represents a wealth-building opportunity for Black and African American families,” the report’s authors wrote. “These opportunities are particularly important for Black and African American families, whose median net worth was $24,100, 7.8 times lower than the median net worth of white families in 2019.”
“I think access to capital is very important, obviously. I also think opportunity is important, and there’s more opportunity in Cincinnati neighborhoods,” said Matthew Cuff, owner of Just Quinn Barbecue. “There’s also the education component, which is important for us as African-American entrepreneurs. The danger is, if you don’t have either one of those two, you could be in a really bad situation.”
Cuff started the business as a passion project while working as an engineer at General Electric in 2009. It quickly grew into a food truck business, and by 2011, he opened his first brick-and-mortar store with funding from Cincinnati’s first mobile food vendor program.
“Black businesses will bring a different perspective, a different flavor,” Cuffe said.[If] Young black kids in their neighborhoods see people who look like them in places they want to be, and vice versa. I think diversity is important in all areas of life, and entrepreneurship and business are no exception.”
Carney said if Black businesses, as well as Hispanic and Asian American businesses, thrive, things will only get better for the community.
“There are more jobs, better schools, better neighborhoods,” Carney said. “More taxes for roads, bridges, things like that.”
Niija Adams is also a Black-owned small business owner in Cincinnati and understands the importance of access to financial resources.
“You may have the ambition to do something, but you just don’t have the funds,” she said. “I worked a side job and funded it with my own money.”
Adams opened Skin Haven Aesthetics in 2020, using small business loans provided during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve seen a lot of places open and thrive that just needed a little bit of additional capital infusion,” Adams said. “I would like to see more, but it will come from providing more subsidies to minorities and making it a little easier.”
Carney said the AACC offers 120 different resources to all entrepreneurs and can be reached here .
The Economic and Financial Impact of Black-Owned Businesses in Southwest Ohio and NKY (by Scribd Web Editors)
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