July 9, 2007
The Truth About Inner City Small BusinessesBy Tim Ferguson, Founder, Chair and Managing Partner
America's small businesses are being transformed as demographics shift and the financial landscape continues to evolve. In the inner city, small businesses are often large, profitable, and growing rapidly. Yet they face an array of barriers to getting the financial and intellectual capital they need to make the most of the opportunities that surround them.
Developing a picture of inner city opportunity
Negative stereotypes of inner city businesses abound: they're small, they're unprofitable, they're hopelessly static, always running to stay in place. Of course, like many other companies, those in the inner city face genuine challenges in growing their businesses to scale. However, inner city businesses are often poised for growth and profit.
While ideas and opinions on the challenges faced by inner city small businesses are ubiquitous, reliable data on the promise and potential of this market is scarce. My own interest was piqued by my early experience in investment banking and reinforced by my long-time involvement with issues and organizations in inner city economic development. The picture continued to take shape through informal exchanges with members of the business community, thought leaders in academia, and policymakers. The next step was comparing notes with Ron Walker, who had accumulated many years of direct experience as a senior executive in commercial and retail banking and later joined me as co-founder of Next Street. Our focus groups with inner city small business owners confirmed that traditional financial services often fail to address the needs of inner city small businesses.
