Black men speak on entrepreneurship in America

“The good employees will eventually leave for school or leave for an internship,” said Tawwab, who established Happy Hippo in 2018. “It’s hard to keep them.”

Black-owned companies typically have four or fewer employees and 58 percent earn less than $100,000. When hiring issues come into play, revenue is undoubtedly impacted.

Beyond marketing, financing and growing a business, Otis Toussaint, owner of Wide Aperture Media, says an additional dynamic that stunts growth is Black people’s persistent tendency to “play small-ball business politics.” This is another way to describe the oft-repeated “crabs in the barrel” mindset.

Toussaint said smaller business owners can sometimes be slow to support each other, “meanwhile, those in a different tax bracket are saying, ‘Hey buddy, I know this person or that person—let’s connect and make a few million here and a few million there.'”

While some business owners may struggle to hire dependable employees, others say scaling their business can be tricky.

“I’m a disabled, minority-owned business [owner], and I don’t know of many community resources that can help me make my business bigger and better,” said Toussaint, adding that when it comes to marketing and financing, he’s had to do his best to figure it all out as he goes along.

“I don’t have everything figured out– but still, I enjoy the journey,” he said.

Wide Aperture Media, a photography, videography and media company based in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia (DMV) area, was launched roughly 10 years ago after Toussaint’s military medical discharge.

“My business started as a means of trying to find myself once I was out of the military,” said Toussaint. “In 2013, I was preparing to medically retire. All I knew was military and medical operations, but I had a love for videography and photography.”