Advice For Networking Interview with Great Day LA

aKrewe hosted its eleventh networking social and discussed tips with WWL's Malik Mingo on Great Day Louisiana to help business owners make networking work for them.

Recent trends show renewed interest in business ownership. Women and people of color in the United States are taking the lead on this reinvigorated interest in entrepreneurship, according to an article by The Washington Post. Almost 1 in 5 adults—about 19 percent—in the US have started a business since the pandemic began, with approximately 550,000 Americans starting their path to business ownership in July 2020 and nearly that same amount being created monthly. Entrepreneurship rates are highest among Black and Hispanic adults — 35 percent and 27 percent, respectively — compared with 15 percent of White adults. Adults between 18 and 34 were nearly twice as likely to start businesses as those between 35 and 64. Men are still more likely than women to start their own companies, but data show that the gap continues to narrow. 

In contrast, businesses are also closing more rapidly. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, an annual report by Babson College and cited by The Washington Post, found that 5.2 percent of businesses closed their doors in 2022, up from 2.9 percent in 2019. 

One remedy to help new business owners stay afloat during uncertain times is an age-old adage, “It’s not what you know, but who you know.” Although digital networking has become a daily activity for most of us, some people find in-person networking daunting. Business networking pop-ups like The Business Exchange x aKrewe NOLA take a gamified approach to make networking more manageable and fun for even the least likely extroverts.