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The Small Business Development Center at Lorain County Community College and the nonprofit Enlightened Solutions released their 2023 small business demographics at a conference on Jan. 27 at the university’s Spitzer Conference Center.
“The data collected by Enlightened Solutions helps inform our efforts to further support and grow small businesses across the county,” said Lisa Hutson, director of the Small Business Development Center. I’m here.
Small businesses highlight the importance of minority businesses in Lorain County and how they compare to the national average.
The program was introduced to LCCC in 2012 with a mission to help small businesses in Lorain County.
A female minority-led nonprofit, Enlightened Solutions calls itself a social enterprise and advocacy think tank.
Founders Bethany Studenic and Chinennye “ChiChi” N’Kemere worked with the Center for Small Business Development to complete an independent study focused on the minority business population in Lorain County.
“We jumped into this project and, as you know, Lorain County has a lot of small businesses,” says N’Kemere. “But we need to know exactly what these small businesses are going through, especially through recent years, including the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Enlightened Solutions study tracked 20 Lorraine County small minority businesses by examining eight categories gleaned from a series of surveys, interviews, and stakeholder sampling.
From its findings, the group found that financial institutions, health and hospitals, transportation, mobility and sustainability groups, community advocacy organizations, academic institutions, philanthropic organizations, civic and government departments, and business and economic communities are major players in Lorain County. identified as a category.
“From there, we broke it down into looking at minority group businesses that fit into these asset categories and how they relate to national averages,” Studenick said.
Across all minority categories, including race, gender, sexual orientation and veteran status, the study found Lorraine County lags behind the national average for business owners, she said. .
Women-led businesses have grown in Lorain County in recent years, and the study found that 15% of business owners are women, compared to the national average of 48%.
We found the same to be true for a very small number of racial demographics.
For veteran-owned businesses, Lorraine County has 3% and the national average is 6%, according to the survey.
Studenic and N’Kemere said this wasn’t all bad.
“What these findings show us is that there are so many possibilities and opportunities,” Studenick said. “Black- and African-American-owned businesses are one of the fastest growing demographics we see nationwide, and the same could be true for Lorraine County.”
The Small Business Development Center and Enlightened Solutions’ biggest push for minority business owners is simply to register with the state.
This can be done by going to the Lorain County Chamber of Commerce or by going to the state and registering your business.
At the state level, minority business status can also be registered.
“There is so much room for improvement, and small businesses are the backbone of Lorain County,” said N’Kemere. “SBDC is here to help and continue to support other people’s businesses.”
A full report on their findings can be accessed at https://www.enlightened-solutions.com/sbdc and click ES Report.
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