THE MINORITY Business Research Group was established in 2006 by the Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship at Baruch College. The group consists of researchers from the Baruch Community, the larger City University of New York system and other researchers nationwide.  The first priority of the Research Group is to analyze and disseminate the multi-year data-collection project focusing on minority entrepreneurship in the United States, The National Minority Business Owners Surveys.

These studies explore minority entrepreneurship issues within the White, African-American, Korean-American and Mexican-American business owners’ populations

These studies explore minority entrepreneurship issues within the White, African-American, Korean-American and Mexican-American business owners’ populations. The Minority Business Research Group focused on the impact that variables such as education, gender, family structure and responsibilities, access to capital, business experience, and personal and family goals made on business ownership.

Minority Entrepreneurship Research Findings

Key findings conclude that entrepreneurs are similar among the target minority groups studied--an entrepreneur is an entrepreneur regardless of ethnicity. Simultaneously, notable differences do exist. For example, entrepreneur rates among Mexican American females are double those of White American females. The study also found that Korean Americans often do not view themselves as highly successful entrepreneurs even though others view them as such. The data also suggested that African Americans sampled highly rated serving the communities in which they live.

Immigrant Entrepreneurship Research

Related to their interest in minority entrepreneurship, the Research Group has also begun to analyze immigrant entrepreneurship. As participants in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (the largest and longest-standing globally focused entrepreneurship research project) the Minority Business Research Group analyzed what entrepreneurial immigrants in the United States are like, a timely topic given the changing dynamics of the US population.  This new interest area resulted in the Field Center hosting a popular conference on immigrant entrepreneurship in fall of 2008.