There are 32.5 million small businesses in the United States, and a growing number are Muslim-owned.
As America’s Muslim population approaches 4 million, “it’s not surprising that business ownership is also increasing,” said Michael Verchot, director of the Consulting and Business Development Center at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business.
Small businesses, those with fewer than 500 employees, make up the majority of U.S. companies, and the relative ease of registering a new business — which takes an average of four days — has prompted many Muslim Americans to take the plunge.
Verchot cites New York City’s 96,000 Muslim-owned businesses and the state of Michigan’s 36,000 as barometers. U.S. Muslim entrepreneurs serve both a growing domestic population and a global halal economy. Products certified as “halal,” or permitted, under Islamic law are attractive to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
“It’s exciting to see the emergence of American Muslim-owned small businesses that are meeting the needs of customers and clients around the globe,” Verchot says. He cites the Muslim dating app Muzmatch, which has 50 employees and 4 million members, and grew out of Silicon Valley in California.
Other small, Muslim-owned companies like ATM World, a New York-based firm that provides banking equipment and services, and Plaques by Azra, a New York maker of awards, are being recognized by corporate clients as among their best suppliers, according to Verchot.
