Citi estimated that this amount could have been added to the U.S. economy if four major racial gaps had been closed twenty years earlier.
About Us
Building a stronger economy—together.
The FBA Business Directory helps customers find and support verified Foundational Black American-owned businesses. This Midwest site serves businesses and communities across the region while contributing to a broader national network.
The directory exists to connect customers with worthy enterprises, increase repeat business, strengthen local ownership, and help more dollars support employment, expansion, and lasting economic stability.
A landmark economic finding
The cost of leaving opportunity unrealized
In 2020, Citi published Closing the Racial Inequality Gaps: The Economic Cost of Black Inequality in the U.S. The report examined disparities in wages, education, housing, and investment.
Its central message was clear: when people are denied fair access to earnings, education, homeownership, and business capital, the loss reaches far beyond one community. Workers, companies, neighborhoods, and the national economy all forfeit growth.
The $16 trillion figure is an estimate of economic growth lost to inequality—not a measurement of the size of the FBA consumer market.
Read coverage of Citi's reportWhy circulation matters
Each purchase can help create the next opportunity.
Economic circulation is practical. When customers intentionally patronize FBA-owned firms, more revenue becomes available for payroll, suppliers, equipment, expansion, and reinvestment. One purchase alone does not transform an economy, but disciplined, repeat support can create the steady demand businesses need to grow.
More employment
Consistent customer support gives growing firms more capacity to hire, train, contract, and create career pathways.
Stronger businesses
Reliable revenue helps entrepreneurs purchase equipment, build inventory, improve creditworthiness, and expand operations.
Greater ownership
Profitable enterprises create assets, operating knowledge, supplier relationships, and opportunities that can serve future generations.
Healthier communities
Stable local businesses can support neighborhood services, community organizations, commercial corridors, and a broader tax base.
Support is a business decision.
This is not about limiting choice. It is about making verified enterprises easier to find and giving capable business owners a fair opportunity to earn trust, loyalty, and repeat customers through quality products and professional service.
Our role
Make verified businesses easier to find.
The Midwest site organizes verified businesses by location and category so customers can identify enterprises ready to serve them. Listings are reviewed before publication to provide a clearer and more dependable regional resource.
The directory is for customers seeking worthy businesses, entrepreneurs seeking greater visibility, and communities seeking stronger ownership, employment, and economic stability. Each regional directory strengthens the larger national network.
Support Midwest businesses. Strengthen the national network.