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

Small Business Administration's Portable Assistance Program
The Small Business Administration has established the Portable Assistance Program wherein they seek to provide grants to Small Business Development Lead Centers that provide services to small businesses in an effort to increase the success of small business establishments and their viability in certain communities where economic hardship is apparent and is attributable to the impact of a major disaster.

---

Community Development Financial Institutions
Community Development Financial Institutions are basically financial institutions who possess the ability to provide credit and financial services to underserved industries and communities.

---

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.

---

Small Business Administration's Recovery Capital Loans
The Recovery Capital Loans Program provides financial assistance to small business with less than 500 employees to obtain a deferred payment loan from the agency, in order to meet existing debt payments, thereby giving the business the opportunity to refocus their business strategy.

---