L.A. County Leads U.S. in Companies Owned by Women; O.C. Close Behind
Los Angeles County has the largest number of women-owned companies in the nation, and its black-owned businesses have the biggest sales, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.
Orange County was not far behind in the number of women-owned businesses, though the number of black-owned businesses was significantly lower, reflecting the county’s small black population.
The 1992 survey of U.S. metropolitan areas shows Los Angeles, a center of entrepreneurial activity, with a significant role as headquarters for successful business enterprises operated by women and blacks. Los Angeles firms generated 11% of all revenues for the nation’s black-owned businesses and 4% of the money collected by women-owned companies.
The special census, which is conducted every five years, gives the most accurate picture available of American commercial enterprises.
The county had 232,723 firms owned by women, with total receipts of $28.7 billion. Although other metropolitan areas surpassed Los Angeles County when population is taken into account, only New York had higher receipts--$36.5 billion produced by 187,525 firms.
In Orange County, the census counted 75,219 women-owned businesses; receipts totaled $9.9 million.
Lindsey Johnson of Women Incorporated, a nonprofit financial association for women, theorized that New York’s women-owned businesses generated more income because they are more established than those in California.
New York and other Rust Belt states were hit by corporate downsizing in the late 1970s, prompting women to start their own firms. Not until nearly a decade later did California began to go through the same process, she said.
Furthermore, immigration has helped swell the ranks of women-owned businesses in Los Angeles County. These are relatively low-grossing businesses, helping to keep a lid on the total receipts of women-owned businesses in the county compared with other metropolitan areas.
And, of course, like men, some women were driven to start their own business because they were laid off or the companies they worked for shut down during the recession.
Melinda Morgan, 39, of Irvine started her own public relations firm in mid-1991 after she was laid off as a vice president of an advertising agency.
“Nobody was hiring PR people at my salary,” recalled Morgan, adding that she had always had aspirations to own a business. “I love the opportunity to create my own success and my clients,’ ” she said.
In Orange County, there were 2,237 black-owned businesses with revenue totaling $219 million, far below Los Angeles and other major areas.
The 32,645 black-owned companies in Los Angeles generated receipts totaling $3.6 billion. New York and Washington had more firms, but each of those metropolitan areas had less than half of the $3.6 billion produced in Los Angeles.
The higher Los Angeles numbers probably reflect businesses requiring more capital, and generating greater receipts, such as manufacturing, wholesale trade and distribution, and finance.
“More capital-intensive businesses need more credit, and their average revenues are higher,” said Bruce Phillips, director of economic research for the Small Business Administration.
Black-owned high-technology businesses and entertainment firms could also account for the greater business receipts here, said Charles Blackmore, chairman of the 3,500 member Black Business Assn. of Los Angles.
Blackmore, who heads Data Systems, a computer systems installation company in Orange, said California’s aerospace industry helped create numerous black-owned technology businesses that have since expanded to jobs outside aerospace. Meanwhile, more than 65 black-owned music and movie production companies are based in Los Angeles, he said.
Tim Lester, executive director of the Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce, added that many of Los Angeles’ black businesses have matured to national scope.
“The scope is national but they’re based here,” Lester said.
The broader region, including the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura, accounted for 41,190, or 60%, of the state’s black-owned firms, with receipts of $4 billion. The 383,358 women-owned firms in the Southland made up 48% of the state’s total and had $44.1 billion in receipts.
Rosenblatt reported from Washington and Torres from Los Angeles. Staff writer Don Lee in Costa Mesa contributed to this report.
