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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 2017)
Page 10 The Skanner MINORITY BUSINESS ENTERPRISE EDITION September 27, 2017 By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire A new report detail- ing the record-set- ting spending power of African American women has further buoyed the con- fidence of Black female entrepreneurs, who said the information proves their undeniable value to the United States and the global economy. The report titled, “Af- rican American Wom- en: Our Science, Her Magic,” was released by Nielsen during the Con- gressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual legislative conference; it revealed that African American women’s con- sumer preferences and brand affinities are res- onating across the main- stream culture, driving total Black spending power toward a record $1.5 trillion by 2021. The report also noted that Black women com- prise 14 percent of all females in the U.S. (“24.3 million strong”) and 52 percent of all African Americans. With an average age of 35.1 years (versus 42.8 for non-Hispanic White women and 39.4 for all women), Black wom- en have enjoyed steady growth in population, incomes and educational attainment. Sixty-four percent of Black women currently enroll in college right out of high school and 23 percent over the age of 25 have a bachelor’s de- gree or higher, up from 18 percent in 2005. Further, the report noted that the num- ber of businesses ma- jority-owned by Black women grew 67 percent between 2007 and 2012, more than all women combined. The latest U.S. Cen- sus figures show Afri- can-American women have majority ownership in more than 1.5 million businesses with over $42 billion in sales. “This report is help- ful to show banks and brands that Black women are highly qualified to be recipients of fair lend- ing and to be fairly rep- resented in advertising campaigns,” said Saman- tha Gregory, the founder of the website richsingle- momma.com, a platform developed to help single mothers earn extra cash. “As a Black woman in technology and person- al finance, who is also a business owner, those statistics are useful, when I am making a case for working with brands for my blog and business. Gregory continued: “However, if the powers that be are not educated about these statistics, it is still challenging to get a seat at the table, where all the prime contracts are being handed out.” FREDDIE ALLEN/AMG/NNPA Special Business Edition MBE 2017 Nielsen Study Reveals Growing Spending Power, Influence of Black Women Cheryl Grace, the senior vice president of U.S. Community Strategic Alliances and Consumer Engagement for Nielsen, says that marketers must recognize the intercultural influence of Black women on the general market. In this photo, Grace (née Pearson-McNeil) speaks during the 2017 NNPA Mid-Winter Conference in Fort Lauderdale. Briana Santirosa, the founder and CEO of on- line retailer, Casa de Reinas, said that after working in retail for four years, she made the decision to start her own business. Santirosa said that fashion and beauty in- dustries often chose to ignore the purchasing power of Black women. “I do see the market beginning to recognize Black women more and cater to our spending preferences,” Santirosa offered. In Nielsen’s new Di- verse Intelligence Se- ries report, the global researcher paints a por- trait of Black women as trendsetters, brand loy- alists and early adopters, who care about project- ing a positive self-im- age. As they wield that #BlackGirlMagic, Black women play an increas- ingly vital role in how all women see themselves and influencing main- stream culture across a number of areas, in- cluding fashion, beauty, television and music, the report’s authors said. “Black women have strong life-affirming val- ues that spill over into everything they do. The celebration of their pow- er and beauty is reflected in what they buy, watch and listen to, and people outside their communi- ties find it inspiring,” said Cheryl Grace, the senior vice president of U.S. Community Strategic Alliances and Consumer Engagement for Nielsen. “Understanding how Black women’s values affect their buying de- cisions has long been a marketing necessity.” Grace continued: “Now, marketers must also rec- ognize the intercultural influence of Black wom- en on the general market, as an increasingly vital part of how all women see themselves, their families and the rest of the world.” The African American woman’s independent mindset is present in her growing confidence, self-awareness and ris- ing income, according to the report. Black women are not only redefining what it means to be a woman for themselves, but are at the vanguard of chang- ing gender roles and un- limited possibilities for American women of all ages and races. The report noted that 64 percent of Black wom- en agree their goal is to make it to the top of their profession; 58 per- cent agree that they don’t mind giving up their per- sonal time for work—20 percent higher than non-Hispanic White women. Further, 14 percent of Black women have annu- al incomes of $50,000 or higher with ages 35–49 enjoying the highest in- come within the Black female cohort. For millennial women, 81 percent have never been married, up from 71 percent in 2005 and, with an average household size of 2.47, 29 percent of total Black American households contain a married couple. Black women also have embraced the social me- dia movement #Black- GirlMagic, a term that describes a cross-plat- form gathering of em- powered Black women who uplift each other and shine a light on the impressive accomplish- ments of Black women throughout the country. According to the re- port, Black women “over-index by 29 per- cent for spending three to four hours each day on social networking sites and by 86 percent for spending five or more hours each day on social networking sites.” Black women 18 and older, more than any oth- er group, have taken so- cial media and adopted it for higher purposes, the report found.
