Black business leaders and entrepreneurs have been engaged in the struggle for structural barriers within the corporate and government spaces for decades. While DEI was intended to bring a level playing field, many Black business owners argue that anything meaningful has not resulted from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. With the reversal of many recent gains made by the Trump administration, there is now a growing fear that even the little progress made under President Biden will be undone.
The Truth About DEI’s Impact
Most Black business owners face exactly what Ms. Casey Cooper has been presented with an unconducive environment for conducting business. She was denied possibilities for federal contracting up to 2017 even though she had been in the business for over ten years. These programs exist in a semblance, but in her opinion, did not benefit Black-owned businesses. “DEI isn’t for us,” she emphasized that on paper these policies were magnificent but hardly ever turned into actual money-making opportunities for Black business owners.
Such an attitude is hardly misplaced. Under President Biden, the federal entities were mandated to expend a minimum of 11 percent of contract funds to small disadvantaged businesses and, subject to accomplishment, raise that number to 15 percent by 2025. In 2023, only 1.61 percent of those contracts were awarded to Black-owned firms; in 2024, the share fell to 1.54 percent. While Black business owners represent 14.4 percent of the U.S. population, they still hardly benefit from federal contracting opportunities.
Structural Barriers Dance on
Most Black business owners would say that DEI initiatives, regardless of their intentions, have not saved them from deeper trustees. Access to capital, performance bonds, and competing with large corporations remain obstacles to government contracts. Patricia Sigers, owner of a construction firm, emphasizes that performance bonds, which are obligatory for federal construction contracts, are hard to come by. “White men can get a bond quicker than us,” attributing their disadvantage to historic economic inequities against Black men.
Wendell Stemley, president of the National Association of Minority Contractors, echoed a similar sentiment, stating that federal contracting is a good old boy network favoring longstanding white-owned firms. Black entrepreneurs continue to find it difficult to access an industry ripe for change, thanks in part to DEI programs.
The Trump Rollback and Its Proliferation
On the 20th of January 2025, Trump signed two executive orders instructing all agencies to abort all DEI-related policies. This meant to quell any federal agency requirement to consider DEI initiatives during procurement. Trump also canceled a 1965 executive order which prohibited employment discrimination by federal contractors, concerning race, color, religion, or national origin.
Supporters of DEI assert that the rollbacks will create ambiguity and dissuade companies from pursuing diversity initiatives. There are fears that due to the uncertainty regarding the executive orders, companies will stop their DEI programs for fear of being legally pursued, was the warning given by David Glasgow, executive director of NYU’s Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging.
An Urgent Need for a New Way
Black business executives are thus demanding a complete overhaul of how DEI is practiced. They do not want symbolic policies; instead, they want concrete solutions such as the following:
- Enforcement of minority contracting mandates, ensuring that federal contracting agencies meet their diversity goals.
- Capital access programs ensure that Black business owners possess the financial ability to secure government contracts.
- Federal procurement processes should be regulated more heavily to avoid bias and favoritism toward large companies.
- Mentoring and training programs for Black-owned businesses to facilitate access to complex bidding processes.
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National Business League president Ken Harris argued that while the DEI policies were flawed, at least they opened the door for minority-owned businesses. Now that that door is hanging by a thread, he emphasized the necessity for instituting true and enforceable policies to avoid any reversals.
Conclusion
Lastly, the elimination of all DEI projects throws the spotlight on the pressing need for a more serious and sound approach if Black business owners are to get any help at all. All the efforts in the past have been negligible; the rollback of DEI measures is just extending the already existing discrimination. Without any concrete measures being put in place, systemic discrimination will remain in the way of Black contractors and business owners achieving greatness. While advocacy organizations will work against these rollbacks, there is hope that new and improved policies will come in to protect and assist Black-owned businesses needing to thrive.
