Small businesses with fewer than 500 employees comprise 99 percent of inner city establishments and account for more than 80 percent of inner city jobs. In addition, entrepreneurship is a critical pathway to the middle class, with business ownership being second only to homeownership in contributing to household wealth. CEO’s entrepreneurship efforts promote economic growth in economically distressed and emerging communities by enlisting Americans with business expertise to help local entrepreneurs compete and succeed. In partnership with Inc. magazine, CEO’s Inner City Entrepreneur Initiative is building mentoring communities in several cities nationwide by pairing inner city entrepreneurs with successful business leader or entrepreneur mentors. Over the course of the program, mentors help entrepreneurs:

• Develop a better understanding of their business and industry;
• Become better leaders and sharpen their business acumen; and
• Make better decisions on the critical issues facing their company.

The Foundation’s work with inner city entrepreneurs started in 2002, with a small business consulting program in New York City in partnership with Booz Allen Hamilton, New York University’s Stern School of Business, and the New York Chapter of the National Black MBA Association. The program provided more than 65,000 hours of pro-bono technical assistance worth more than $14 million to local entrepreneurs.