EEmpowering women and minority entrepreneurs is key to strengthening minority communities, says CEO and founder of Lafayette Square Damien Dwin in a recent article for Financial Time.

Real growth depends on economic justice, which will not be achieved, writes Dwin, until “people of color and women have the chance to start and grow successful businesses, to create wealth for them. themselves and create opportunities in marginalized communities “.

Lack of diversity has a negative impact on growth

People of color and women are grossly under-represented among business owners and the investment industry, writes Dwin.

Among American companies large enough to have paid employees, only 2.2% are black-owned, 5.8% Latino-owned, and 19.9% ​​are female-owned.

Of US mid-market companies (that is, those with revenues between $ 10 million and $ 1 billion), only 20,000 are owned by minorities or women.

This is a “staggering” number, writes Dwin, given that there are 44 million blacks, 61 million Latinos, and 169 million women in America.

“Businesses owned by women and people of color manage just 0.9% of the industry’s over $ 70. [trillion] in assets, ”Dwin said.

Dwin argued that in order to achieve economic justice and enable real progress and growth, “more women and people of color must become entrepreneurs and build businesses that can positively impact communities.”

Women business leaders outperform

Companies with female entrepreneurial leadership have been shown to outperform in many areas of their business and within their industries, a fact that the ERShares entrepreneura capitalization of the investment strategy.

Entrepreneurs typically build their businesses in sustainable models that create not only success for their business, but also for the community in which they grow up. This is especially true for women entrepreneurs.

By “enabling people of color and talented women to build successful investment companies that promote financial inclusion,” Dwin said, communities, industries and the economy have the potential to thrive and grow.

ERShares Entrepreneura SMA uses the company’s proprietary Entrepreneur © Factor, which leverages research and AI to identify top performing entrepreneurial companies. The strategy inherently encourages diversity and allows investors to follow a fund strategy that aligns with their priorities and values.

ERShares also has two entrepreneurial ETFs in the market: the ETF ERShares Entrepreneurs (ENTR) and the ETF ERShares NextGen Entrepreneurs (ERSX).

For more news, information and strategy, visit the website ETF Entrepreneur channel.

Learn more at ETFtrends.com.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.