Innovating for Diversity

CHAPTER 7Innovations for DEI in Small Business

In 2021, the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) reported that there were 32.5 million firms that had fewer than 500 full-time employees, which represents nearly 99.9 percent of all U.S. businesses. Over 48 percent of the adult population is employed by a small business. Further, small businesses create over 66 percent of net new jobs and account for 44 percent of total U.S. economic activity. The idea that small business is a key driver of the U.S. economy is alive and well.

Launching a business—and even further, a successful one—is no small feat. Much of an entrepreneur's care and consideration must go into meticulous planning, market research, and competitive analysis, as well as effectively launching and growing the business. Doing a general search of “how to start a business” on a search engine or on popular retailer Amazon will yield no shortage of articles and guides on the subject.

What is perhaps harder to find, though, is guidance on how a new or small organization with limited resources can effectively create a meaningful DEI program, or even why they should care about DEI at the nascent stage of their business's journey. There is no doubt that there are many concerns that need an entrepreneur's attention in the short term, but embedding DEI early in a business's founding can be integral to its success over the long term.

In this chapter, we will focus on the unique challenges that small businesses face ...