Black-owned businesses in Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky pushed over $2.8 billion into economy: report

Black businesses have over the years faced challenges ranging from structural to racism. Despite these challenges, some Black people are shattering the glass ceiling and establishing successful enterprises.

In Ohio and Northern Kentucky, black businesses generated over $2.8 billion in 2023, showing that they are profitable, per a new report. The figure includes $1.5 billion in direct sales, supporting 9,024 jobs, and $1.4 billion in indirect sales, resulting in 7,448 additional jobs.

The Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce (AACC) and the University of Cincinnati Alpaugh Family Economics Center for the Greater Cincinnati worked on the report.

They examined 1,417 black-owned businesses across eight counties in Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky.

“Business ownership provides an opportunity to build wealth for Black or African American individuals,” the report’s authors wrote. “Such an opportunity is particularly significant for Black or African American families, whose median net worth of $24,100 was 7.8 times lower than the median net worth of white families in 2019. Furthermore, black- and other minority-owned businesses bring additional entrepreneurship to their communities and impact their local economies. The rate of business creation nationally has been driven by minority-owned firms.”

Commenting on the report, AACC president Eric H. Kearney noted that while the amount of money the businesses made was sound, it could have been more.

“I think the sexy headline is $2.8 billion,” said Kearney, according to WCPO-TV. “I would like to see black-owned businesses spread out and appreciate all of the opportunities and growth that’s available in Ohio. [The $2.8 billion figure] only represents about 2% of Greater Cincinnati’s gross domestic product, so it’s not a huge number. The [Black] population percentage is around 12 to 14%, so if you were to compare, that’s not a good comparison.”

He noted that the growth of black businesses will be made possible if barriers are removed so that black entrepreneurs can receive capital. Figures show that just 1% of Black business owners obtain business loans in their first year.

“I think access to capital, obviously, is really important. I think opportunity is important, which we’re seeing more of in neighborhoods in Cincinnati,” Matthew Cuff, owner of Just Q’in BBQ, told WCPO-TV. “There’s also an education piece. That’s important for us as African American entrepreneurs. The danger is we can have any two of those and wind up in a really bad situation.”