Dorotea Tuzon

While we know that United States is a bedrock of the startup culture, it is still mark by issues on racial and gender disparities and great division. This calls for an equal opportunity for all business owners regardless of their age, race, gender or economic privileges to unleash their creativity and ingenuity to create a more sustainable business environment for all.

In a TED Talk entitled Unlocking the American Dream, CEO Jean Case talked that most businesses are backed by investors and they highly favored white men. Only 10% of the venture capital is given to women and with less than 1% goes to African American business owners and is concentrated only to three different states.

Because of such, there is a call for a more inclusive entrepreneurship.

Inclusive entrepreneurship refers to an idea where people regardless of their age, gender, racial, economic background can start and run his or her own business.

STEPS TO PROMOTE INCLUSIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The National League of Cities (NLG) outlines steps on how we can foster and promote a more inclusive entrepreneurship:

• Understanding the current baseline of the underrepresented entrepreneurs of the city
• Create a network to help support the underrepresented entrepreneur that will help fill the gap and provide opportunities for networking
• Create a measurable action plan for a more inclusive entrepreneurship and have metrics for accountability
• Provide access and remove cultural, digital and even language barriers
• Offer financial or business support to address barriers that will help facilitate a more inclusive entrepreneurship

BENEFITS OF AN INCLUSIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Inclusive entrepreneurship may offer the following:

• More innovation. As more people participate in entrepreneurship, we can experience more brilliant ideas turning into products or services that can enhance our lives.
• Better collaboration. This creates an opportunity for people from diverse backgrounds to come together and build better relationship.
• Empowers individuals. By facilitating assistance, support, and guidance, people can thrive and grow within the environment.
• Values diversity and inclusion. In this way, we can facilitate a more meaningful discussion and get different perspectives from people across all backgrounds.

FINAL THOUGHTS

By promoting equal opportunity for all, we can build a better America where everyone thrives and grows. Having an inclusive entrepreneurship environment can facilitate more innovation, promoting goodness to all!