Black Butterfly Entrepreneurs' Access to Capital

The report Baltimore Black Butterfly Entrepreneurs' Access to Capital: Barriers, Consequences, and Alternatives, by Suntae Kim, PhD and Yolanda Christophe, PhD, draws on more than 60 in-depth interviews with Baltimore entrepreneurs and representatives of financial institutions. Kim and Christophe found that modern bank lending practices often fail to meet the needs of small, community-centered businesses in historically under-resourced East and West Baltimore neighborhoods.

As Christophe told Carey Business School, entrepreneurs excluded from traditional lending are often forced to piece together capital through alternative sources—but the time and effort required limits the business development that lenders later expect to see. Kim studies how entrepreneurship can revitalize post-industrial cities including Baltimore; Christophe's work focuses on the hurdles people from disadvantaged circumstances face when starting a business.

This study completes a three-report Bmore Collab series at Johns Hopkins: Lawrence Brown documented the historical roots of discriminatory lending maps; Mac McComas analyzed lending volumes across neighborhoods from 2013–2023; this report examines barriers, consequences, and alternatives for entrepreneurs seeking capital today. See also Dr Lawrence Brown on Lending.