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 - Minority Grants

Family Planning Services Grants
OPHS has recently established a funding opportunity entitled Family Planning Services Grants, a program wherein the OPHS, along with the HHS, will award grants to eligible individuals who seek to operate voluntary family planning services projects that would provide family planning services to everyone who desires to avail of such services, including low-income families in under-served areas.

---

Ethical Schools Project in Peru
The Ethical Schools Project revolves around the notion of promoting a culture of ethical behavior and civic responsibility among members of the youth, as well as teachers and parents. The project also aims to explore ways that would contribute to a reduction in corruption and other forms of illicit activities such as cocoa cultivation and illegal environmental degradation, which are both common practices in Peru.

---

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.

---

Department of Housing and Urban Development's Dollar Homes Program
The Dollar Homes Program revolves around the process of selling single family homes for a superbly reasonable price of $1 (plus closing cost) to low-to-moderate income families, granted that these houses have been acquired through foreclosure by the Federal Housing Administration, and have already been actively marketed for at least six months and still remained unsold after that certain period of time.

---