The $3 Trillion Opportunity: Why the Great Business Transfer Matters for Black and Brown Entrepreneurs.

• Entrepreneurship

The $3 Trillion Opportunity: Why the Great Business Transfer Matters for Black and Brown Entrepreneurs.

At Vivian’s Door, we often talk about building businesses. But another opportunity is quietly emerging: buying the businesses that already exist. As millions of baby-boomer entrepreneurs prepare to retire, a historic transfer of businesses is underway. In this piece, we explore how that transition could reshape ownership and opportunity for the next generation of Black and Brown entrepreneurs.

As millions of baby-boomer business owners prepare to retire, a historic transfer of businesses could reshape who owns companies and who builds wealth in America.

My mother is running her business from our home office while raising a family. For many entrepreneurs of her generation, work and home often lived under the same roof.

A Personal Lens on a Generational Moment

I grew up watching a business being built in real time. Not from a distance, but from the back of the room.

When my mom hosted meetings, she would set up a small space in the corner for my brother and me with our books and toys. While the adults talked strategy and plans, we sat quietly nearby, close enough to hear the rhythms of the conversation and the seriousness behind the decisions.

At the time, I didn’t realize what I was witnessing. I was watching a business being built.

My mom’s office was also in our home, so the line between work and life was often thin. She would finish her meetings and step out of her office, and just like that, the workday shifted. The same woman, who led conversations about contracts and clients, would come into the den to help my brother and me with our homework and start dinner.

To me, that rhythm felt normal. But looking back, I realize I was watching something extraordinary: a business being built alongside a family. I saw the early mornings. The late nights. The phone calls didn’t stop when the workday ended. I saw the quiet calculations that every business owner makes, balancing risk, opportunity, and responsibility.

For many families across the US in the baby-boomer generation, building a business wasn’t just about profit. It was about independence and building a legacy they could pass down to future generations. It was about building generational wealth.

Now that generation is approaching retirement. And across the country, a question is beginning to surface: What happens to the businesses they built when they step away?

A Generational Shift Is Already Underway?

What I saw growing up was not unique to my family.

Across the country, millions of baby-boomer entrepreneurs built businesses in similar ways, often from kitchens, garages, spare bedrooms, and small offices that doubled as family spaces. Those businesses became the backbone of local economies. Now they are reaching retirement age and are preparing to pass the torch.

According to research from McKinsey & Company’s Institute for Economic Mobility, roughly 6 million small and midsize businesses will need new owners by 2035 as baby-boomer entrepreneurs retire. These businesses represent up to $5 trillion in enterprise value that could change hands in the coming decade.

That number is almost too large to imagine.

Behind those numbers are real businesses, construction firms, neighborhood salons, trucking companies, manufacturing shops, restaurants, and service providers that quietly power local economies. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, there are more than 33 million small businesses in the United States. They represent 99.9 percent of all businesses and employ nearly 62 million Americans, about 46 percent of the private workforce.

When ownership changes, the impact reaches far beyond the owner. It affects workers, families, neighborhoods, and entire communities. Who will take the reins next?

The Great Ownership Transfer

Small businesses needing new owners by 2035: ~6 million
Estimated enterprise value transferring: Up to $5 trillion

Baby-boomer retirement is expected to trigger one of the largest ownership transitions in American business history.

Source: McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility

 Small Businesses in the U.S. Economy

Total small businesses: 33+ million
Share of all businesses: 99.9%
Workers employed: ~62 million
Share of private workforce: ~46%

Small businesses power the U.S. economy and employ nearly half of the private workforce.

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration

What This Transition Looks Like in Real Life

Consider someone like Mr. Jackson. For nearly forty years, he has owned a small HVAC company in his community. He started the business with one truck, a toolbox, and a handful of loyal customers. Over time, the company grew. Today, it employs ten technicians and services hundreds of homes and small businesses each year.

The business is profitable, the reputation is strong, and the phones still ring every morning. But Mr. Jackson is now 67 years old. His children built careers in other industries and live in different states, and none of them plans to take over the company. The technicians who work for him know the trade, but none have the financial resources to purchase the business.

So Mr. Jackson faces a difficult decision: he can close the doors when he retires, or he can find someone willing and prepared to take the business forward.

Multiply that story by millions. Across the country, thousands of profitable businesses are quietly approaching the same moment. Owners who spent decades building companies are now searching for the next generation to carry them forward. Some will find buyers. Many will not. When they don’t, businesses that once anchored communities simply disappear.

The Ownership Gap in America

Despite representing about 13 to 14 percent of the U.S. population, Black Americans own only about 3 percent of businesses. Latino Americans make up nearly 19 percent of the population, but own a much smaller share of employer businesses. These gaps matter because business ownership is one of the most powerful engines of wealth creation in the United States.

Who Owns Businesses in America

White Americans: ~60% of population / ~85% of businesses
Black Americans: ~14% of population / ~3% of businesses
Hispanic / Latino Americans: ~19% of population / ~7% of businesses

Significant gaps remain between population share and business ownership.

Source: U.S Census Bureau, SBA

The Capital Barrier

Data from the Federal Reserve’s Small Business Credit Survey consistently shows that entrepreneurs of color face greater challenges when seeking financing. Minority-owned firms are more likely to be denied loans than white-owned firms, and when approved, are more likely to receive smaller loan amounts. Many rely more on personal savings or high-cost financing options than on traditional bank loans.

Why This Moment Could Change Everything

But if new entrepreneurs step forward, those same businesses can continue to grow, innovate, and create wealth. Researchers estimate that expanding participation in business ownership could unlock as much as three trillion dollars in new household wealth for underrepresented groups over time.

Imagine if only ten percent of the businesses transferring ownership over the next decade were acquired by Black and Brown entrepreneurs. That would represent hundreds of billions of dollars in business assets shifting into new communities of ownership.

A Different Path to Entrepreneurship

For decades, the dominant story of entrepreneurship has been the startup, the idea, the pitch, the launch. But the next era of entrepreneurship may look very different.

Preparing the Next Generation of Owners

At Vivian’s Door, we see this moment clearly. Opportunity alone does not create change. It takes preparation, access, and the right support for entrepreneurs to step into business ownership with confidence and clarity.

This next generation of owners will need more than ambition. They will need guidance, real-world insight, and a foundation strong enough to carry forward businesses that others have spent decades building.

At Vivian’s Door, we take a relationship-based approach to that work. We walk alongside entrepreneurs as they develop the knowledge, mindset, and structure needed to build and sustain a business over time. Through our programs and support, we help entrepreneurs think critically about how businesses operate, make informed decisions, build strong and sustainable foundations, and grow into leaders who can guide businesses into their next chapter.

Because stepping into ownership isn’t just about acquiring a business, it’s about being prepared to carry it forward.

Then and now: the legacy of entrepreneurship continues as co-founders of Vivian’s Door

A Generational Turning Point or Carrying the Legacy Forward

When I think about the businesses built by the baby-boomer generation, I think about the decades of sacrifice behind them. I think about the families who poured their lives into keeping those businesses alive. And I think about what it would mean for those businesses not to disappear, but to continue to be led by a new generation of owners.
This moment is not just about economic trends. It is about legacy. It is about whether the businesses built over forty years will continue to serve communities or fade away because no one was prepared to step forward.

“The next generation of entrepreneurs may not build businesses from scratch; they may inherit the responsibility of carrying forward the businesses that already power our communities.”

Stepping Into What’s Next?

At Vivian’s Door, we see this moment clearly, but more importantly, we understand what it will require from the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Opportunity alone does not create change.

Stepping into ownership, especially of an existing business, requires a different kind of preparation. It requires the ability to understand how a business truly operates, to make decisions that affect people’s livelihoods, and to carry forward something that was built over decades.

This next wave of entrepreneurs won’t just be starting businesses from scratch. They will be stepping into systems, teams, and legacies that already exist. And that responsibility will require more than ambition. It will require readiness. As millions of businesses prepare to transition to new owners, the question is not just whether opportunity exists.

It is whether the next generation is prepared to meet it. The shift is already happening.

The only question left is: who will be ready to step into it?

Sources:
McKinsey & Company, Institute for Economic Mobility. The Great Ownership Transfer: A New Era of Business Stewardship.
U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy. Small Business Profile: United States.
Federal Reserve Banks. Small Business Credit Survey: Report on Employer Firms.
U.S. Census Bureau. Annual Business Survey.