Minority Business Enterprise Centers for Minority-Owned Businesses

by: Iola Bonggay

The Minority Business Development Agency, otherwise known as MBDA, is an agency operating within the United States Department of Commerce that's primarily responsible for the promotion of growth and competitiveness of the country's minority-owned businesses.

The The Minority Business Development Agency has recently constituted the Minority Business Enterprise Centers (MBEC) Program wherein it aims to support minority-owned businesses by providing them with electronic and one-on-one business development services for a reasonably nominal fee.

The program is also designed to provide a vast range of service to its clients, including initial consultations, and identification and resolution of specific business problems that could somehow lead them towards the right direction, which in their case is towards the improvement and expansion of their business in the marketplace.

In addition, the Minority Business Enterprise Centers will have to provide clients with advice and counseling in the fields of business assessment, strategic business consultancy, access to capital and markets, preparation of financial packages, business planning, information and management, marketing, assistance, engineering, production, identification of probable business opportunities and construction assistance.

  (continued...)

Minority Business Enterprise Centers for Minority-Owned Businesses
  Page 2

About The Author Iola Bonggay is an editor of TopGovernmentGrants.com one the the most comprehensive Websites offering information on government grants and federal government programs. She also maintains Websites providing resources on environmental grants and grants for youth programs.

Additional Resources

category - Small Business Grants

Community Development Credit Unions
A Community Development Credit Union, more commonly known as a CDCU, is a credit financial institution which owned and controlled by its members in an effort to sustain the ability of being able to provide a wide array of financial services.

---

Department of Agriculture: Value Added Producer Grants
The Value-Added Producer Grants program is geared towards helping the Independent Producers of Agricultural Commodities, Agriculture Producer Groups, Farmer and Rancher Cooperatives, and Majority-Controlled Producer-Based Business Ventures in developing techniques that would create marketing opportunities and establish business plans involving viable marketing opportunities that involve the production of bio-based products from agricultural commodities.

---

Small Business Innovation Research Phase IIB Bridge Awards
In line with this mission, the NIH has recently constituted the Small Business Innovation Research Phase IIB Bridge Awards to Accelerate the Development of Cancer Therapeutics, Imaging Technologies, Interventional Devices, Diagnostics, and Prognostics Toward Commercialization Program.

---

Historically Underutilized Business Zones - HUBZone Empowerment Contracting Program
The Small Business Administration has established the Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZone) Empowerment Contracting Program wherein they aim to provide federal contracting assistance to eligible small business corporations which are located in underutilized business zones so as to improve their employment opportunities, investments, and their area's economic development.

---