The number of African American women business owners with bank credit of $100,000 or more doubled between 1998 and 2002 according to Wells Fargo’s latest research collaboration with Center for Women’s Business Research.

“The Center has shown that the number of African American women-owned businesses increased by 17 percent between 1997 and 2002, more than double the rate of all businesses,” said Brenda Ross Dulan, national spokesperson for Wells Fargo’s African American Business Services program.

These latest findings help outline some of the greatest priorities and challenges for the segment of women business owners.

Other trends in the report:

• African American women business owners are more likely to use commercial bank loans for start-up capital than in the past.
• African American women, more than other women business owners, anticipate having an additional need for business financing in the coming year.
• A much greater percentage of African American women business owners – when compared to any other ethnicity surveyed – say they did not borrow capital to start their firms.