Several states have shown that the number of registered businesses has \u201cmore than doubled\u201d according to analysis by the New York Times.<\/p>\n
In the month after the CARES Act was passed by Congress in March 2020, business registrations increased by 60 percent. Though the economic downturn caused by the COVID pandemic is likely to damage entrepreneurship and put many small businesses in a financial hole or out of business entirely, there are signs that many have turned to creating businesses after losing employment elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Andre Perry, a Brookings Institution fellow, told the Times that some of the surge in Black business registrations could be a signal of personal economic trouble.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is more about survival than it is about wealth creation. There\u2019s lots of people who have lost their jobs and lost their businesses. People are starting to realize that side hustles are businesses,\u201d Perry said.<\/p>\n
Additionally, Google Trends data reported an \u201cuptick in searches related to Black-owned businesses\u201d in June of last year during the start of the pandemic. According to Google Trends data, searches for \u201cHow to find black owned businesses in your area\u201d\u00a0saw a 300% spike\u00a0and searches for \u201cBlack owned restaurants near me\u201d\u00a0tripled.<\/p>\n
An app that is a guide to Black owned restaurants, called EatOkra, witnessed a 4,450% increase in downloads of new users in May 2020.\u00a0\u00a0Many believe that activism after the murder of George Floyd coupled with the COVID19 pandemic spurred manny to think about economic activism and Black owned businesses.<\/p>\n