Key Learnings Reveal Small Business Trends

We partnered with Mastercard Advisors to explore how small businesses have performed in recent years in Richmond, Virginia. By analyzing trends in a measure of consumer spending based on aggregated and anonymized Mastercard transaction data (hereafter "Mastercard Spend Volume" or "Spend Volume") from 2019 to 2023, we compared small businesses to non-small businesses and where geographically across the city businesses are growing. Understanding where small businesses are growing can inform where support is effective and where new efforts could be beneficial. Our study found that since 2019 both Mastercard Spend Volume and the number of small businesses have been growing in the four areas that the City of Richmond designated as priority growth nodes in their “Richmond 300: A Guide for Growth” plan. We also found that the gap in spending between small businesses and non-small businesses as a result of the COVID pandemic significantly shrunk by August 2023. In parallel, we examined the city’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and highlighted how local organizations in Richmond have driven resources to minority-owned businesses through outreach, relationship-building, and the city’s Office of Minority Business Development.