My OperaBusiness plan Attention Minorities: Get Certified and Grow Your Business with the Government and Large Corporations as Clients
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 9:29:25 AM
What does MBE mean? MBE stands for "Minority Business Enterprise". If you are an MBE, you can obtain one or more levels of certification to increase your business sales opportunities.
With an MBE certification, you simply obtain a certification from a certification office to confirm that your business is 51% owned, controlled, and operated by one or more minorities. It can be confusing since there are different types and levels of certification, so let's look at each type in more detail.
Not every MBE would benefit from an MBE certification. For example, if you have a minority owned business that doesnt sell a service or product that the government or Corporate America would ever want to purchase, then MBE certifications aren't really needed.
You should definitely pursue the idea of obtaining an MBE certification if you would like to sell your products or services to these billionaire clients. One reason an MBE certification is valuable is because some government agencies and many corporations are required to award a certain percentage of business each and every year to MBE enterprises. Your MBE certification is proof that you meet the requirement of being a minority-owned business.
MBE certifications are available at four different levels, which may be confusing to some people: a. Local Certification b. State Certification c. Federal Certification d. National Certification" Each of these certifications will now be discussed.
Local Certification: A local certification is obtained from a local government agency. You should acquire a local MBE certification if you desire to do business with that particular local government agency. It will increase your chances of getting them as a client.
State Certifications for MBE's: State certifications can be obtained in most states through that state's MBE/WBE office. If you want to sell to state governments with increase opportunities to get projects from them, you should obtain a state certification. If you want to obtain a state MBE certification, contact the certifying office in the state in which you want to be certified. You then have to submit the application and supporting documentatin that they require.
Certification at the Federal Level: There is actually no formal certification process to obtain a federal certification. Federal WBE certifications are "self-certifying". When selling to the U.S. federal government, then you "self-certify" that you are an MBE. That basically means that you just state that you are 51% owned, controlled, and operated by one or more minorities. Later, after awarded a project with the federal government, they may ask you to prove that MBE status, but in most cases, they do not. However, dont say you are an MBE if you are not.
You can get started right away in responding to federal government opportunities and leverage your MBE status (once you are registered as a federal government vendor with CCR, etc.) since there is no formal MBE application process for the federal government. It is often thought that the federal government has projects that are set-aside just for MBEs. While the federal government does not actually have projects that they specifically ear-mark just for minorities, as a practical matter, they do end up making significant efforts to award a certain percentage of contracts to MBE's. So there are definitely still increased advantages to being an MBE if you want to sell to the federal government.
National Certifications for MBE's: The National Minority Supplier Diversity Council (www.NMSDC.org) is the certifying office for national certifications. National certifications allow you to increase your chances of selling to large corporations. You should first check with the large corporations that you want as clients to see whether they require a national certification or not, before you proceed. You may find that the corporations who you want to work with may honor a state certification, or not require one at all. But many large corporations today require that you have a national certification from NMSDC.
Denise Gosnell is an attorney, as well as a world-recognized author on business, technology, and legal topics. For more information on growing your business through MBE certifications, make sure you check out Denise's FREE MBE certification Kit at http://www.mbecert.com.business plan: business plan
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