What are the main challenges faced by PWD-owned enterprises in the USA and Europe?
The main challenges faced by PWD-owned enterprises in the USA and Europe span financial, structural, social, and systemic barriers that hinder their growth and sustainability. These challenges are well-documented across recent research and reports:
1. Limited Access to Affordable Startup Capital and Financing
People with disabilities often have limited personal financial resources due to lower income levels, poor credit ratings (sometimes linked to long-term benefit receipt), and discrimination from financial institutions. This makes securing startup capital and business loans difficult.
Despite a strong interest in financing, very few disability-owned SMEs have accessed formal loans, highlighting a significant unmet need for accessible capital.
The welfare system can create a “benefits trap,” where transitioning to entrepreneurship risks loss of disability benefits, discouraging business start-up.
2. Scarcity of Tailored Business Support and Services
Many PWD entrepreneurs lack access to specialised business knowledge and skills, including management, legal, and financial expertise, partly due to limited education and employment experience.
Business advisers and support organisations sometimes hold stereotypical or risk-averse views about disability entrepreneurship, leading to reluctance in recommending self-employment or providing adequate support.
Training programs are often generic and not tailored to the individual needs of entrepreneurs with disabilities, reducing their effectiveness.
There is a lack of accessible information and assistance regarding grants, loans, and business development resources.
3. Discrimination and Social Barriers
Customer and societal discrimination can reduce demand for goods and services offered by PWD-owned businesses, impacting their revenue and growth potential.
Workplace and societal attitudes often fail to fully recognise the abilities and resilience of entrepreneurs with disabilities, contributing to invisibility and underrepresentation in business data and policy development.
4. Increased Operating Costs
Entrepreneurs with disabilities may incur higher labour costs because they sometimes need to hire assistants to perform tasks that others can do independently, putting them at a competitive disadvantage.
High operating expenses and challenges related to exchange rates or currency issues are also significant concerns for these businesses.
5. Accessibility and Technology Barriers
Limited use and availability of assistive technologies and accessible IT infrastructure can hinder business operations. Improvements in accessible business management software, online services, and government portals are needed to support PWD entrepreneurs.
Physical and digital accessibility challenges, such as website design and the need for in-person attendance at events or meetings, can create barriers to participation and growth.
6. Data Gaps and Invisibility
The absence of disability-specific data in most public and private business surveys renders PWD-owned enterprises invisible, making it difficult to advocate for and design targeted programs.
7. Legal and Policy Environment
In some regions, legal and policy frameworks do not sufficiently support disability entrepreneurship or inclusive procurement, limiting opportunities for growth and integration into corporate supply chains.
A large number of corporate governance standards internationally
Summary
PWD-owned enterprises in the USA and Europe face multifaceted challenges, including difficulty accessing capital, lack of tailored business support, discrimination, higher operating costs, accessibility issues, and insufficient data and policy support. Addressing these barriers requires systemic changes such as improving financial inclusion, providing specialised training and mentoring, enhancing accessibility of technology and services, combating discrimination, and collecting better data to inform inclusive policies and programs. These efforts are essential to unlock the full potential of disability entrepreneurship and promote equitable economic participation.
Sources: internet resources
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Design Studio MZ+MM makes Social Procurement conveyable.
Design Studio MZ+MM is a social enterprise (SEE Mark No. SEE 0114) based in Hong Kong, providing various types of graphic design services. Currently, the team is composed of hearing-impaired and hearing designers who practice disability inclusion, which is the primary reason for promoting "diversity, equity and inclusion" in corporate organizations. We support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals SDGs: 10 “Reduced Inequalities” and 17 “Promote Partnerships for the Goals”.
In addition to providing job opportunities for diverse talents, this social enterprise also helps corporate clients implement advanced governance concepts. We also firmly believe that Design Studio MZ+MM is still the only social procurement solution practitioner and provider in Hong Kong, providing professional design services in the true sense of social procurement and adding multiple levels of added social value. To learn more about the vision and mission of this social enterprise, please click this link to jump to the Social Impact page.
