Tapping into the Power of Women Entrepreneurs

By Marc Morial

President & CEO, National Urban League

Each month, I discuss the monthly U.S. Department of Labor jobs report on CNBC’s “Power Lunch,” and the findings are often bittersweet: economists generally feel the U.S. is making progress – yet, somehow, this improving trend continues to leave many African Americans behind.

Particularly, African-American women are the only group whose employment prospects have not improved significantly over the last year. One of the most perplexing aspects of this is that a study from the Center for American Progress found that Black women are starting businesses at a rate six times faster than the general population – making up the fastest-growing segment of women-owned businesses in America.

So, why is the unemployment rate still so unacceptably high for this group? How can we work together to fill this gap and tap into women small business owners to help solve the problem? We must access the potential of women entrepreneurs to drive job creation.

That’s why we’ve created programs like our Jobs Rebuild America initiative, which includes Entrepreneurship Centers in cities around the country that aim to power up jobs growth and improve the skills of small business owners. Our Entrepreneurship Centers are having an impact with 70 percent of the 12,000 people served each year being women, and thousands of jobs created as a result of their success. However, demand for these services far exceeds supply. With the continued support of our dedicated partners, we hope to serve many more people left behind by the economic recovery who are determined to make a better life for themselves.

Read my full op-ed on this topic as published on Oct. 22 in The Root.