A North Texas organization is guiding women, particularly women of color, through the sometimes overwhelming process of starting a business.

When it comes to entrepreneurs in Dallas-Fort Worth, eight out of 10 businesses are started by women of color like Amber Sheikh and Anna Munoz.

“I started Apex Language Institute in November 2019,” Sheikh said.

She’s landed government contracts teaching languages not commonly taught.

Munoz opened her residential construction company, ARC Restorations, in Dec. 2019.

“All my jobs have been in construction, so it’s really a passion for me,” she said.

LiftFund guided both women in their dreams of opening their own businesses.

The micro-finance organization aims to empower females, especially women of color, by offering many services, including business training, SBA loans and mentorship between women.

“Traditionally, women are underfunded when it comes to their small business,” LiftFund Dallas’ director Tarsha Hearns said.

All three women said they believed starting a business is full of obstacles for many women, especially minorities.

“As women and as minorities we may not be taken as seriously,” Munoz said.

“There’s like a psychological stress as well as a financial stress and between the two of them you kind of have to push through,” Sheikh said.

Hearns said women often consider what impact their endeavor will have on their family, leading some to abandon their dreams.

Another challenge, Hearns said, was to close a disparity gap that exists between minority and white female entrepreneurs.

“There is an opportunity for women of color to make a huge economic impact in our economy if we were to level the playing field,” Hearns said.

These women urge others to seek available resources. Sheikh, for example, sought out and received a “woman-owned certification” at no cost.

“[With it] you’ll have access to corporations in government agencies at the federal, state and local level who are seeking to do business with women,” she said.

LiftFund is partially funded by the Small Business Administration and urges women to come forward to learn more about the process and available resources.

These women hope to pave the way for others.

“I think we can be role models for other women, that we can do it,” Munoz said.

Hearns said LiftFund also helped businesses struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic and said there is available assistance through its “business resiliency program.”

The national coalition of community-based organizations tracks hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and has received more than 2,500 reports of violence and harassment between March and August.

Vuong, 60, is concerned anti-Asian sentiment will further slow his restaurant’s sluggish recovery.

He says when he first reopened the restaurant he was concerned customers would stay away because they thought “you can get the virus from the restaurant. And I say that’s not true.”

It’s not true. But Marlene Kim, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts, fears that misinformation could exacerbate the financial situation.

“Unfortunately, if people continue to believe these myths that Asians are more likely to have the virus, that they’re bringing the virus, certainly Asians will have a more difficult time, especially Asian businesses in Asian areas like Chinatowns I think will continue to suffer,” Kim says. “And we’ve seen a number of businesses already close in Asian areas of the country.”

Unemployment among Asian Americans skyrockets

The pandemic has taken a heavy economic toll on Asian Americans, who’ve experienced unemployment rates spike by more than 450%, from 2.5% in February to 13.8% in June, according to the U.S Department of Labor.

“It’s the worst I’ve seen in decades,” Kim says. “Asians typically have among the lowest unemployment rates, and it really shot up during Covid.”

Since reopening Canton House for indoor dining in May, Vuong has seen some of his customers gradually return. He was able to rehire most of his employees but business remains down by 50%.

The father of two says he’s breaking even but admits he’s still struggling. For dinner service recently, he recalls having only three tables the whole night.

Vuong, who came to the US as a refugee escaping communist Vietnam in 1979, says he’s saddened to see how the coronavirus has hurt Atlanta’s Chinatown, located about a mile away from his restaurant.

In Chamblee, Georgia, the Great Wall Gift Shop will be closing down at the end of October. Another Asian shop owner in the strip mall, who did not want to be identified, admitted that he is also struggling to survive.

Model minority myth overshadows struggles

Despite the hardships burdening Asian Americans, Kim says Asian stereotypes are preventing many from taking notice.

“I think it’s definitely been overlooked. I think it’s because Asians are the invisible minority. People don’t think about problems affecting Asians and that Asians are being disadvantaged. …Part of the reason is that Asians are seen as the model minority,” Kim says. “People think that Asians have made it. They have good jobs, good incomes. …And the reality is very different.”

Because some Asians have higher levels of education than the average worker, and have good incomes, people forget that there’s another segment of Asians that are less likely to go to college, Kim says.

“They’re more likely to work in very low paid jobs that are very precarious, like in nail salons or as taxi drivers or in retail.”

Vuong is concerned about a second wave of Covid-19 hurting business. He’s also worried that the outcome of the presidential election could inflame racial tensions.

“I really don’t want it to destroy my property or business. That is my [biggest] concern,” he says.

Despite the onslaught of challenges he faces, Vuong is emphatically grateful that he has been living his American dream for four decades.

Since moving to the US, Vuong graduated from Georgia State University with a degree in mathematics, became a US citizen in 1985, bought a house 1986, sent two children to college, and built up a popular Chinese restaurant.

“As a first generation coming to America, we have a dream to get a business, to have a house, to have a stable life. Have a family and then raise up kids. But hopefully our dream is not broken because of this Covid-19.”