79% of Black aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners find the odds stacked against them in building their businesses, saying they are much less likely to succeed compared with white entrepreneurs

SAN MATEO, Calif. – April 2, 2021 —  Operation HOPE, America’s largest nonprofit financial inclusion organization, today launched the HOPE Minority Small Business Index in collaboration with SurveyMonkey (Nasdaq: SVMK). The HOPE index is intended to quantify the experiences and hopefulness of Black small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. Each question touches on a different aspect of their experience, from hope for business success to mentorship, risk tolerance, their access to capital, and future outlook on systemic issues that can impede success for Black small business owners.

“We are excited to collaborate with SurveyMonkey to give voice to the Black small business community, and to identify, amplify, and rectify the unique challenges they encounter on their pathway to success,” said John Hope Bryant, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Operation HOPE.

Fueled by SurveyMonkey’s Market Research Solutions, the first survey consisted of 1,167 Black small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs who are participating in HOPE’s signature One Million Black Business and Entrepreneur Initiative and its other entrepreneurial training programs throughout the U.S. The responses provided help evaluate the current social, economic, and political climates that impact Black small business owners’ ability to succeed.

The survey, which was guided by SurveyMonkey research experts, was designed to aid in identifying issues faced by Black small business owners and entrepreneurs. Key findings include:

The effects of the pandemic on Black Small Businesses continue, yet owners remain optimistic

Majority of Black SBOs lack adequate access to capital

Socio-economic barriers to business development and Black entrepreneurship remain

“SurveyMonkey is proud to play our part in Operation HOPE’s work to close the gap in entrepreneurial attainment. Our vision is to raise the bar for human experiences by amplifying individual voices,” said Zander Lurie, CEO of SurveyMonkey. “The feedback from Black small business owners is clear—they need better access to the resources, tools, and funding that propel small business success. Together, we can make sure this story is told.”

About Operation HOPE, Inc.

Since 1992, Operation HOPE has been moving America from civil rights to “silver rights”with the mission of making free enterprise and capitalism work for the underserved—disrupting poverty for millions of low and moderate-income youth and adults across the nation. Through our community uplift model, HOPE Inside, which received the 2016 Innovator of the Year recognition by American Banker magazine, Operation HOPE has served more than 4 million individuals and directed more than $3.2 billion in economic activity into disenfranchised communities—turning check-cashing customers into banking customers, renters into homeowners, small business dreamers into small business owners, minimum wage workers into living wage consumers, and uncertain disaster victims into financially empowered disaster survivors. Project 5117 is our multi-year four-pronged approach to combating economic inequality that aims to improve financial literacy, increase business role models and business internships for youth in underserved communities, and stabilize the American dream by boosting FICO scores. Operation HOPE recently received its sixth consecutive 4-star charity rating for fiscal management and commitment to transparency and accountability by the prestigious non-profit evaluator, Charity Navigator. For more information: www.OperationHOPE.org. Follow the HOPE conversation on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

About SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey is a leader in agile software solutions for customer experience, market research, and survey feedback. The company’s platform empowers over 20 million active users to analyze and act on feedback from employees, customers, website and app users, and market research respondents. SurveyMonkey’s products, enterprise solutions, and integrations enable more than 345,000 organizations to deliver better customer experiences, increase employee retention​ and unlock growth and innovation. Ultimately, SurveyMonkey's vision is to raise the bar for human experiences by amplifying individual voices.

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