African-American-owned Firms Increase

Cherie Ransom struggled to find work after Bethlehem Steel
went bust in 2001, zapping her accounting job near Buffalo during the recession.

    The rise in African-American
entrepreneurship comes as big companies and government agencies beef up supplier
networks with more minority-owned companies.

    In the auto industry, for example,
"There is no American car made that does not have parts made by
African-American-owned businesses," says Earl Graves Sr., founder of Black
Enterprise magazine and a DaimlerChrysler board member. He says incoming
Chrysler CEO Thomas LaSorda "is a proponent of doing business with
African-Americans in particular and minorities in general."

    Ransom moved home to Virginia, but
full-time permanent jobs were elusive, and some employers said she was
overqualified. Ransom started a bookkeeping service from her Virginia Beach
home, focusing on small-business customers.

    Now, Ransom, 35, says she has enough
work to consider hiring her first employee. "I was so busy last year, it
was crazy," she says.

    Her business is one of about 375,000
started by African-Americans from 1997 to 2002, new Census data show. That was
surprising growth, given that African-Americans trailed Asians and Hispanics
five years before, the last time the Census tracked the numbers.

    The 45% jump in black-owned firms, to
1.2 million, was the highest growth rate among the largest minority groups, the
Census says.

    Virtually all that growth among
black-owned companies was in mom-and-pop firms, often started at home. Annual
revenue averaged $21,000. Few had paid employees.

随着美国经济的复苏，非洲裔美国公司的数量也呈现出飞速增加的态势。据专家预计，未来美国少数民族企业将逐渐成为主流市场上不可或缺的一员。

    据《今日美国》8月19日报道，非裔美国公民查理·兰森2001年失去了自己的会计工作，开始重新踏上找工作的艰难道路。他来到了弗吉尼亚州寻找运气，然而在经济萧条时期，要找到一份稳定的全职工作实在是难上加难，有些雇主甚至以技能过高为由拒绝了他。无奈之下，兰森开始在自己家中做起了兼职记帐员的工作，客户主要是那些规模较小的企业。时过境迁，现年35岁的兰森如今已经开始考虑雇佣自己的第一名员工了。“去年我的业务十分繁忙，简直叫人应接不暇”，兰森说。

    统计数字显示，在1997年到2002年的6年当中，非裔美国公民开设的公司数量达到了37.5万家，而最近几年中其数量更是飙升了45％，达到120万家。非裔美国公司的规模一般不大，家族式的公司占绝大多数，年平均收入为2.1万美元。

   
报道说，越来越多的非裔美国公司凭借自身的努力晋级为大型公司或政府的代理机构，汽车产业就是最好的例子。戴姆勒－克莱斯勒公司董事会成员埃尔指出，任何一辆美国造汽车上都有来自非裔美国公司所生产的零部件。

   
分析人士认为，随着越来越多的企业用户愿意同少数民族公司打交道，后者将不再是商务市场的“少数民族”，他们将越发成为主流中的一员。

    （李远）