Hello. Welcome to today's Employee Ownership Small Business Week minicast. I'm Diane Ives, Fund Advisor at the Kendeda Fund.
Why does employee ownership equal equitable outcomes?
Inequality in the United States is growing, with the top 10% of individuals owning more than 90% of all business wealth. Expanding employee ownership can combat this problem. A study by Harvard Business Review found that if 30% of all businesses were employee owned, the net wealth of the bottom half of Americans would more than quadruple and median wealth among black households would quadruple too.
That's because with employee ownership, owners and workers receive the tools they need to redefine prosperity, making their communities more vibrant places to live, more resourceful in hard times, and more capable of retaining the wealth that they generate. Employee ownership is a proven effective, scalable tool to fight the systemic inequalities in our economy, and build healthier, more sustainable communities for generations to come. It's bold, but it's not risky.
That said, sometimes it can be hard for business owners to even know where to start to build equitable outcomes while managing their businesses. And that's where employee ownership equals comes in. At Kendeda, we care about helping business owners taking that first step toward building more equitable outcomes. So we're helping to lift up the power and potential of employee ownership so that business owners can learn more and explore this dynamic opportunity.
We think employee ownership moves us closer to a powerful, promising picture of an economic future that is more inclusive and democratic. We know that community wealth building through employee ownership is one of the best ways to provide all Americans with the tools to join and prosper within the middle class.
For more information about the benefits of employee ownership, and to contact an EO expert, visit employeeownershipequals.org.
