Black-owned businesses grow at high rate

From the Globe Business Desk

The number of businesses owned by black entrepreneurs grew more than four times the national rate for all businesses from 1997 to 2002.
    Black entrepreneurs owned 1.2 million businesses in 2002, an increase of 45 percent from 1997, according to a report by the Census Bureau.
   “It’s encouraging to see not just the number but the sales and receipts of black-owned businesses growing at such a robust rate, confirming that these firms are among the fastest-growing segments of our economy,” Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon said in a statement.
    Revenues from black-owned businesses increased by 25 percent during the period, to about $89 billion.
    Overall, black entrepreneurs owned 5 percent of U.S. businesses in 2002, Hispanics owned about 7 percent and women of all races and ethnicities owned 28 percent.
   “I’m proud,” said Harry Alford, president and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. “We’re the fastestgrowing segment.”
    Alford said black entrepreneurs have been helped by improved education levels and increased incomes among black consumers and business owners. “We’ve got the first generation of significantly educated people,” Alford said. “There’s a black middle class like never before”
    Black-owned businesses are not concentrated in any sector. The largest sector was health care and social assistance, with 246,000 back-owned firms. The second largest was other services, such as personal services, repair and maintenance, with 210,000 firms.
    The state of New York had the most black-owned firms, with 129,324. It was followed by California, Florida, Georgia and Texas.