BREAKING THROUGH

UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT
Women-owned businesses are increasing at a rapid pace in immigrant, minority
and low income communities
New businesses started by immigrant, minority
and low-income women are outpacing those of their
male and white female counterparts, helping to drive
economic growth in the city, state and nation.
As noted earlier in this report, the U.S. Census
does not break down women-owned companies by race
and ethnicity for New York City or by counties, but
New York state numbers offer a good surrogate since
57 percent of women-owned businesses in the state
are located in the city.
In fact, in the ten years between 2002 and 2012,
while the number of women-owned firms in the state
grew by 44 percent, the number of women-owned minority
firms increased at twice that rate. All told, they
added more than 80,000 jobs in the state over that period
and in 2012, were generating $19 billion in sales
and nearly $3 billion in wages.
Given that growth, it is not surprising that women
often make up half or more of the participants in programs
that provide training, assistance and capital to
new entrepreneurs.
The motivations of the women seeking entrepreneurial
advice and support vary. Many want to supplement
their incomes. Others are out of work or are
seeking alternatives to low-wage jobs. Some are simply
following a passion and see entrepreneurship as
a way to take more control of their lives while doing
something they love. Whatever their reasons, they are
helping drive economic growth in the city and provide
economic stability to their families and communities.
“The typical woman is working and wants to take
what she does full time and do it on her own or maybe
she has lost a job and has decided ‘Now I’m going try
to do what I always wanted to do,’” says Stephanie Penceal
of Operation Hope.
Most women in these communities start businesses
that require minimal capital and make use of their
skills and experience. It’s even better if they can run
their startups, at least in the beginning, out of their
kitchens or living rooms. These are often businesses
like home day care, braiding hair and selling homemade
baked goods.
Indeed, minorities own a whopping 45 percent of
women-owned businesses in New York state and are
players in every industry, from construction and food
related businesses to the arts and entertainment. But
they ply their skills most frequently in health care,
education, retail trade and various services businesses.
Between them, African American and Hispanic
women own 57 percent of the female owned health
and social services businesses in the state. Along with
Asian women, they own 56 percent of women-owned
food businesses and the majority of the women-owned
beauty and nail salons.
Indeed, beauty salons and related businesses are a
natural for many women. More than a quarter of the
women entrepreneurs who responded to a CUF survey
disseminated by Business Center for New Americans
said being a woman in a business targeted at other
women is an advantage. In fiscal year 2015, in fact, fully
a third of the loans made by BCNA and 40 percent of
the dollars lent went to hair braiding, hair salon, nail
salon and other beauty businesses. One BCNA client
is Alimata Zabsonre, who has been braiding hair since
she was 14. After arriving in the United States in 2002,
she worked for two years for other salons but quickly
saw that she could do more and opened her own place,
Alima’s Hairbraiding, on Pitkin Avenue in Brooklyn.
Even then, she continued to work two jobs in order to
be able to invest in the salon.
“I started little by little,” says Zabsonre. “Every
time I make a little money, I add to the salon to make
customers feel comfortable. Now I’m trying to complete
the salon the way it should be.”
Zabsonre also knows the power of networking.
Two years ago she started the Association of African
Breaking Through 27