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Kimberly Jolasun, an Atlanta-based entrepreneur, is contemplating voting for the Republican presidential candidate for the first time. She is the founder of Villie, an unprofitable online platform that enables new parents to share baby updates and register for gifts. Jolasun, a black woman, claims difficulties raising capital for her company due to high-interest rates and the biased tech ecosystem dominated by white men. Despite admitting that borrowing costs are determined by the Federal Reserve and not President Biden, she believes his Republican counterpart, former President Donald J. Trump, is more attuned to business owners’ needs.
Heightened borrowing costs could be a crucial issue in the 2024 presidential election, particularly in Georgia, one of the six anticipated battleground states. Black voters, who made up 27% of the electorate four years ago, are a vital bloc in this area. According to a Federal Reserve survey, startup businesses owned by people of color, especially black Americans, face considerable obstacles in fund-raising, making them more susceptible to increased borrowing costs.
Veronica Woodruff, founder of Travelsist, an Atlanta-based company that connects travelers oblige support navigating airports. She describes raising capital as challenging due to her identity as an African-Latina woman in the South. Regardless, she has already raised $1.1 million, including a $250,000 grant from the Fearless Fund, a non-profit aiming to mitigate capital scarcity for women-of-color-owned businesses.
With respect to the importance of the black vote in Georgia, the number of eligible voters in the state swelled by 1.9 million from 2000 to 2019. Black people constituted nearly half of this tally, per the Pew Research Centre. While it is predicted that Mr. Biden will attract the black bloc in the forthcoming election, even a small decline could be decisive.
Higher borrowing costs’ impact is not captured in standard inflation measures, and increased debt payments often negate the benefits of economic growth. A Harvard and the IMF study claims that larger payments for mortgages and other debts largely explain why ordinary people have pessimistic economic predictions despite economic experts’ positive assessments.
Racial profiling persists in financing rejections, as black and Hispanic entrepreneurs often face such rejections despite having comparable credit ratings. The rise in borrowing costs has led to slower hiring and job cuts in black-owned businesses. Black entrepreneurs in Atlanta face a tough time securing adequate financing.
Ray Woods, a real estate entrepreneur, criticized the electoral choice, arguing it’s between a Republican Party that is indifferent towards black people and a Democratic Party that takes black voters for granted. Despite his admiration for high-tax, high-safety-net systems like Denmark and initially supporting Bernie Sanders, Woods is planning to vote for Mr. Trump, citing his understanding of business.
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