Fayetteville has the most Black-owned businesses nationwide, study finds
A recent study found that Fayetteville has the most Black-owned businesses in the country.
A LendingTree study found that Fayetteville has the highest percentage of Black-owned businesses with 11.2% of businesses being Black-owned.
For the study, analysts compared the total number of businesses to the amount of Black-owned businesses in 50 U.S. metropolitan regions with the most Black-owned businesses.
More: National Black Business Month: Here are 40 Black-owned businesses in the Fayetteville area
The study found a total of 585 Black-owned businesses out of a total of 5,210 businesses total in Fayetteville, surpassing major cities including Washington, D.C.; Richmond, Virginia; and Atlanta, Georgia.
Suzy Hrabovsky, executive director of the Center for Economic Empowerment and Development, said Fayetteville is a place where small business owners can succeed, and the community sees that.
"I think it's wonderful that everyone feels like they can succeed by starting their own business and making it work for them," she said. "That's what entrepreneurship is; it's that when you see a problem, you figure out a way to overcome it. So I think African-American business owners saw a problem and decided they wanted to contribute and be of service to others and fix the problems and I love it."
More: Downtown Fayetteville is seeing a boom in Black-owned businesses
The study also found that Black-owned businesses were more likely than all businesses to be woman-owned. It found that 35.4% of Black-owned businesses were owned by women compared with 20.9% of all businesses.
CEED has been helping women in Fayetteville become business owners for over 30 years.
According to Hrabovsky, 74% of the businesses in Fayetteville are owned by women. About two-thirds of those are Black-owned businesses, she said.
"What we are seeing is not just Black women but women in general and Black women taking advantage of the opportunities that are out there," she said.
Hrabovsky said women are expanding on education but also being moms and supporting their families and having thier own businesses gives them the ability to do it all.
More: Here are 20 Black-owned service businesses in the Fayetteville area
Both Cool Spring Downtown District and the Fayetteville Area Convention and Visitor's Bureau have resources highlighting Black-owned businesses.
The bureau has a list of local Black-owned businesses on its website. Cool Spring Downtown District also has a Black-owned business list, and those businesses can be identified by markers on their front door or window.
According to the bureau, Fayetteville and Cumberland County is home to more than 75 Black business entrepreneurs.
Bianca Shoneman, Cool Spring Downtown District president and CEO, said she has continued to see a rise in the number of businesses owned by Black women.
Last year, downtown there were 45 Black-owned businesses and 59 women-owned businesses, including an overlap of female Black-owned businesses. Shoneman says there are over 50 Black-owned businesses.
"I think you are seeing the sort of entrepreneurial spirit see the downtown as a viable investment to pursue success in our ever-evolving arts and entertainment district," Shoneman said.
Staff writer Akira Kyles can be reached at akyles@gannett.com.
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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville Black-owned business growth surpasses other major cities
