Why Are So Many Black and Brown Businesses Closing Their Doors

Over the past few years, the landscape of small businesses has shifted dramatically. But, none have felt the weight of that change more than Black and Brown entrepreneurs. These businesses are often built from the ground up with limited resources and extraordinary resilience. As someone who created a business from the grown up, I understand the stress and uncertainty it is to be a founder. 

Danita Shari

After recently reading The Cut article on  Ami Cole closing their doors. It made me really sit back and think about the shift of support many Black and Brown businesses have had after 2020. On one side of things, you had individuals working extremely hard to keep their business afloat during the pandemic. On the other side of things, there were investors ready to make a change and pour the funding into more Black and Brown founders; Along with side of sales reaching record numbers. But as the years went on that same enthusiasm that was once there was no longer the case. 

With the economy creating more distribution challenges and the lack of VC funding. Fewer small companies owned by Black or Brown entrepreneurs secure retail placements, and lasting scale.

There are so many things that are stacked up against Black and Brown founders from the beginning. The conversations are continuing to circle around these issue, but it continues to remain. How do we truly change this? Where do we go from here?