After 2020, Black-owned businesses find themselves in new landscape Thomas Gnau Before the pandemic, Black-owned businesses faced distinct and lingering obstacles. Access to capital, insurance availability, bidding on contracts can be challenges to entrepreneurs of all races — but in the struggle to build an enduring legacy, those challenges can be acute for Black employers. Locally, however, some Black entrepreneurs say they have sensed a change in recent months in interactions and perceptions. It’s not just local. Some 75 percent of Black business owners reported seeing an increase in business since the beginning of June, according to research conducted to coincide with National Black Business Month last August.