When Mary Hawkins (who has asked to use a pseudonym for protection) graduated from college in 1999, she landed a job with a Cabinet-level federal agency and settled into what her mother always told her: find a good government job and keep it.
However, Hawkins was one of thousands of federal employees who the Trump administration, through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), laid off earlier this year. With the federal government formally shut down on Oct. 1, many agencies suspended operations and thousands of workers are left in peril of not receiving pay and benefits if not losing their jobs.
Instead of trying to find a government job in Maryland, Hawkins, who resides in Prince George’s County, decided to take another route: entrepreneurship.
“My life’s plan was to retire as a federal government employee and then travel the world,” she said. “[President] Donald Trump changed all of that. I am now focused on starting my business, so I won’t have to work for someone else and not worry about being laid off.”
Before the Oct. 1 shutdown, which has the prospect of thousands of people losing their jobs permanently, a June 6 broadcast on National Public Radio reported that 59,000 federal jobs like Hawkins’s disappeared since the start of Trump’s second term in January, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services terminating 10,000 employees and USAID shuttering its office and firing thousands.
Entrepreneurship is a popular option for former federal employees and others who have experienced job loss. A study by Clarity Capital quoted in the March 8, 2024 edition of Fast Company noted that 63% of tech workers who were laid off started their own companies and 48% of entrepreneurs who launched their businesses cited job loss as the primary motivation.
Like Hawkins, the study revealed that many entrepreneurs who start their businesses after a layoff do so within six months, specifically 26% within three months and 30% beginning between three and six months after being laid off.
The federal job cuts are a part of a trend in which over 300,000 Black women like Hawkins have lost jobs or left the labor force since February 2025, according to a report by MSNBC on Sept. 7.
The MSNBC report credits the rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives (DEI) in addition to the federal job cuts as the primary reason Black women are losing employment. The report also relays that the negative employment phenomenon is contrary to other racial and ethnic groups.
“This trend, a significant indicator of broader economic health, contrasts with employment trends for other demographic groups and is negatively impacting the U.S. economy,” the MSNBC report said.
Black Women Are Becoming Entrepreneurs
African American women make up less than 10% of the U.S. population but have emerged as the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs, according to a November 2023 piece from GoDaddy.
The number of Black women-owned businesses in the U.S. was trending upward even before the COVID-19 pandemic occurred in March 2020 and that accelerated entrepreneurship overall, the report said.
Between 2017 and 2020, the number of Black women-owned businesses increased by nearly 20%, far exceeding the growth of women-owned businesses and Black-owned businesses overall, the Brookings Institution reports.
“To me, the rise of Black women entrepreneurs means we’re starting to believe in ourselves more, that we’re finally recognizing how limitless we are,” said Joy Ofodu, who quit her job at Instagram to become a full-time content creator and voice actor in 2022, according to the report.
Hawkins is on the path to entrepreneurship and is looking to open a bakery.
“Baking is a hobby for me and a way for me to relax,” she said. “Now that I have more time on my hands, I will do it to make more money.”
Resources and Advice for Those Pursuing Entrepreneurship
Hawkins has researched resources for her to build the bakery.
“I have already talked with my bank and I have a friend who is an accountant,” she told The Informer. “I am not ready for a brick-and-mortar store but I am planning on consulting with someone in real estate. Prince George’s Community College has some courses on entrepreneurship and how to run a business and I will look into that.”
Higher education institutions are good resources for new entrepreneurs whether it be classes or special programs such as the Howard University School of Business Small Business Development Center.
Dr. Maurice D. Edington, president of the University of the District of Columbia, encourages anyone thinking of pursuing entrepreneurship— whether they are a former federal employee or not— to consider his institution as a resource.
“Our accredited business schools offer classes for people who want to go into business,” he said. “We offer majors in business and for those who are in the process of starting their business, we offer coaching.”
The District government, through the Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD), has a program known as SmallBiz Assist that allows aspiring and seasoned entrepreneurs direct access to advisors who can talk through business ideas, answer questions and identify next steps. The sessions are held every Wednesday at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Northwest.
The department also has SmallBiz Assist on the Road where the services offered at the MLK Library are offered in neighborhoods throughout the city. Additionally, the department through its Business Development Division provides technical assistance that helps entrepreneurs strengthen their foundation from building business credit and managing finances to being ready to compete for government and corporate contracts.
Entrepreneurs will have the chance to become Certified Business Enterprises (CBEs) with workshops offered by the department. CBEs have access to millions of dollars of District government contracts and have preference in bidding and selection.
A program explaining the CBE program and the District government contracting process —District Connect — will be held on Oct. 23 at the Catholic University in Northeast.
Rosemary Suggs-Evans, director of DSLBD, said her agency is ready to assist would-be entrepreneurs, particularly if they want to set up in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.
“DSLBD remains focused on making it easier for D.C. entrepreneurs to access resources that fuel growth and create jobs,” she said in August.
Marshawn Wolley, CEO of Black Onyx Management based in Indianapolis, Indiana, said it is important for prospective entrepreneurs not to follow their emotions but to survey the landscape they are operating in.
“Don’t follow your passion, follow a problem,” Wolley told The Informer, while in Washington, D.C., participating in business panels as part of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference. “Identify a problem that needs to be solved and solve it with your business. The important thing is the product and the market it is in. Passions are fleeting, you have them one day and they are gone the next.”
Wolley also urged setting up the business properly at the onset.
“Make sure your taxes and organizational structure are straight,” he said. “Having the right email address and business credit is a must. Use business credit because it is other people’s money.”
