Most Attractive Locations for African-American-Owned Businesses

The ING Gazelle Index asked Gazelle CEOs to identify the metropolitan area they felt was the best location for fast growing African American-owned businesses. At 27.1%, Atlanta was the leading area, followed by Washington/Baltimore (14.3%), Houston (5.4%), Los Angeles (3.4%) and New York (3.4%). When asked to identify a location, different from their current location, most attractive to start a new business or to expand a current business, Gazelle CEOs chose Georgia by more than a two to one margin (20.3%), followed by Florida (8.9%), California (5.1%), Texas (4.9%) and North Carolina (4.6%).

Small Businesses Rebounding

According to William Dunkelberg, chief economist for the National Federation for Independent Business, a small business advocacy group in Washington, a general sense of optimism seems to prevail among small-business owners this year as opposed to last. Dunkelberg said, many small businesses reported plans for increased capital spending and investment in inventories. More significant is that job growth among small businesses is “strong in every industry, including manufacturing,” Dunkelberg said. Although federal payroll statistics show overall job creation to be anemic at best, those statistics, according to economists, do not always pick up hiring at small businesses and start-ups at the beginning of business upswings.