An SBIC Increases The Odds Of Black-Owned Businesses Receiving Private Equity

The Enterprise Center (TEC) is blazing a trail with its $50 million Innovative Capital Growth Fund, demonstrating how private sector investment can be leveraged through the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Small Business Invest Companies (SBIC) program to increase private-equity investment in Black-owned businesses.

In 2021, minority-owned firms managed a minuscule 1.4% of all assets while representing about 40% of the population. SBICs with at least one person of color on the investment team were more than twice as likely than all-white SBICs to make investments in companies whose CEO was a person of color. The same was true for women. SBICs are a program of the SBA Office of Investment and Innovation.