National Institute of Minority Entrepreneurship

The National Institute of Minority Economic Development (the Institute) exists to strengthen the asset base of diverse populations through policy, education, and economic opportunity.

Using a collaborative, data-driven approach we put our tools and resources into dismantling the systemic barriers to racial wealth equity.  

Our work is organized across four collaborative centers:

Our Center for Entrepreneurship supports diverse small businesses through education, training, growth strategies, technical assistance, and networking opportunities. Technology resources include Docebo learning management platform, Salesforce, C-vent, as well as virtual and hybrid platforms (Zoom, Teams) for one-on-one coaching and small group sessions. This Center includes a state-of-the-art virtual hybrid Minority Student Entrepreneur Learning Lab, connecting HBCU and other diverse students to venture capital and entrepreneurship training opportunities.

Our Research, Policy and Impact Center conducts qualitative and quantitative research to address the root causes of disparities – income, wages, general economic opportunity, community access, and funding allocations. Using a combination of in-house and publicly available data analysis tools, published reports under the RPIC highlight community assets as well as policy change opportunities for improved access and equity.

Our Center for Community Investment provides access to capital for minority and women-owned small businesses, HBCU initiatives, and affordable housing developers. This center includes our certified CDFI, Institute Capital, providing nontraditional lending, venture capital, microloans and grants using online loan applications and digital outreach strategies.

Our Center for Professional Services provides professional development clinics, supplier inclusion consultation, and diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) education to corporations, universities, and other clients.

One of the greatest learnings through the pandemic were the many ways in which technology provides access to our client base. We know that:

• Much of the world remains virtual. From communications to program delivery, we must be able to meet our clients in that space, consistently and securely.
• Technology offers broader access: We can reach and engage small business clients and hopeful entrepreneurs in remote, rural areas and convene students across HBCUs in virtual learning pods for mentorship, education, and support.
• Cloud storage, data management, and reporting capabilities must be addressed: data migration, platform integration, staff training, and continual updates are essential to serving our clients, funders and constituents.
• Cyber-attacks, data breaches, and other security needs continue to escalate. We need proactive, robust security measures in place that are updated regularly.

We also discovered how limited we were, as a small nonprofit, regarding our own technology infrastructure, knowledge, and security. Though we have made significant improvements, we still need additional consulting, leadership, and financial support to fully meet our goals.

Examples include:

LoanWell

Added in 2021, minority financial-tech company which offers a digital loan application and approval process, integrated into our website

Still need to fund and complete the process of integrating LoanWell with other client data and learning management systems

Salesforce

Began customization process in 2022; Began data migration and program utilization in spring 2023.

Costs continue to escalate, far outstripping our original budget. Some integration is on hold until new funding is secured.

Docebo

Incorporated the online learning management platform in 2022

Have plans to create customized, branded content as well as licenses for multiple Institute program arms to use.

Minority Student Learning Lab

Received $2.2 million from State of NC to renovate and install state-of-the-art digital learning hub in our north Raleigh location (computers, smartboards, A/V connectivity, high-speed internet, updated wifi, etc.)

Will need ongoing support to fully connect with HBCU student pods through virtual means, update and replace equipment, and grow program.

Cybersecurity

Have long-standing relationship and contract with WorkSmart

New cyberattacks have generated issues for the Institute. Staffing growth increases costs.

Internal IT management

Able to fund and hire FTE IT and Innovations Manager who leads staff trainings, conducts program analysis to eliminate redundancies and generate cost-savings, and reduce reliance on vendor

Need support to continue to retain this position and ensure adequate resources are available

PolicyMap, ArcGIS, Qualtrics, other

Provide data and demographics information relevant to the communities we serve

Currently accessed via “loan” through partnering universities or other ties; Seek funding for internal licensing

ADA compliance

We have had preliminary feedback regarding our website and need to meet digital ADA standards.

Need additional funding and staffing resources to conduct full website audit and complete changes

Online donations

The Institute has not historically relied upon or engaged individual donors. Under new leadership we are incorporating as part of long-term fiscal sustainability plan.

Need an improved online giving platform, fully incorporated donor management system, and enhanced security protocols.

Disparities in lending dollars, loan approval rates, hiring, promotion and salary ranges, and in overall business growth and lifespan for minority business entities (MBEs) are well-documented and exist across state and regional geographies. Minority students have a higher percentage of student debt and are hired at lower wages and in lower positions than white applicants with the same credentials.  These disparities in turn create a culture of distrust in which minority small businesses are less likely to apply for funding due to rejection fears. Minority students are more likely to leave school and not complete degrees in order to support themselves financially.

All of these issues have remained true and even escalated in recent years. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and again, inequitable access and distribution of recovery dollars, continues to have a higher impact on small, minority businesses. Relief efforts have disproportionately gone to larger, white-owned business entities.

This is what the Institute exists to resolve.

Our audience is women and minority entrepreneurs, primarily new start-ups and early-stage growth-ready, in NC, VA, KY, MD and parts of WV and SC. In defining small businesses, we follow the SBA guidelines, though we generally target those with fewer than 10 employees and less than $5 million in revenues. As a CDFI entity, our affiliate Institute Capital lends to a minimum of 60% LMI clients, though we estimate that more than 75% are low-to-moderate income.

Historically our client demographics are as follows:

●           88% are women; 85% are women of color

●           70% are low-to-moderate income

●           66% are Black/African American

●           14-16% are Latinx

●           80% are businesses with less than $1 million annual revenue and fewer than 10 employees

Our goal is to be strategic and purposeful in targeting inequity, using integrated technology to support our staff capacity and our growing client base and needs.

We support:

Financial readiness through both our Center for Entrepreneurship and our Center for Community Investment, helping minority and women small business owners gain proficiency in business management, accounting practices, loan preparedness and application assistance, and conduct critical strategic planning for their companies.

Business development and procurement through our Center for Professional Services, providing a direct link to supplier inclusion opportunities and municipal/corporate vendor contracting.

Scaling, as a key component of our entrepreneurship training, supporting growth-ready small businesses in providing Good Jobs, with benefits and livable wages, as well as partnerships or other opportunities to reach long-term goals.

Internal financial health for small business owners through targeted workshops or consulting services which help reduce redundancies and utilize digital solutions to streamline workflows, market their products, increase sales, or improve customer service.

Employee advancement, as a member of the Aspen Institute’s Good Jobs Initiative in support of job quality and job growth goals for our clients, as well as internally providing the educational and training opportunities to continually promote and challenge our own team members.

Data and impact, through our Research Policy and Impact Center, which offers training for our entrepreneur clients in partnership with the Kaufman Foundation and the Association of Women's Business Centers, as well as the published research which helps form better equity for future generations. 

In our experience, disparities exist because of the roadblocks we have allowed our society to create for Black, Brown, women, and other minorities to gain basic access to economic opportunity. Our focus on eliminating those barriers remains unchanged since our formation in 1988: We tackle racial inequities in opportunity, access, and economic outcomes by improving the ecosystem for diverse small businesses and nonprofit organizations, and by increasing access to capital for business and communities of color.

Entrepreneurship offers a way for diverse individuals to be placed back at the center of their own lives, leading and controlling their own wellbeing. We believe that specifically engaging, educating, and investing in the success of diverse small business owners will reduce the wealth gap among those populations and ultimately help to break the cycle of generational poverty for minority households, and particularly those that are women-led.

A US Department of Commerce report from 2017 shows that minority-owned businesses receive lower loan amounts, are charged higher interest rates, and are denied loans at a greater percentage than their non-minority counterparts. At the same time, and even in that same report, it is shown that minority-owned businesses actually have a stronger growth pattern and higher success rate than other businesses, with the conclusion being that minority businesses offer a greater return on investment due to the multiplier effect. Minority business owners are more likely to create jobs, mentor youth, invest in their neighborhoods, and thereby create exponential economic impact through their individual business success.

For our clients, success is dependent upon having strong relationships - with funders, supply chains, technology providers, supplier diversity professionals, and even with local, state, and federal policymakers. Beyond the logistical and physical support these networks provide, those relationships with peers across the small business community also create mutual benefit and improved resilience in the face of economic crisis.

Whether virtual, hybrid or in-person, we create learning cohorts to support and develop that critical social capital. This includes peer-to-peer, professional services, and mentorships.

In the 2022 calendar year across all programs the Institute provided customized business consulting services to 2,786 unique small business clients and reached 5,458 total entrepreneurs with workshops and training programs.  Of those, 88.7% were women, 65.49% were African American/Black, and 16.98% were Hispanic/Latinx.

Using our SBA reporting cycle for the 2022-23 year we show 5,458 active clients. We anticipate that number to reach 6,501 at year end, based on current growth.

In five years it is expected that we will serve 13,002 small businesses based on a three-year average.

The Institute provides entrepreneurial education, policy-related research, access to capital, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion consulting. We identify and bring awareness to the societal structures which lead to racial disparities and promote economic justice primarily, but not exclusively, through entrepreneurship.

Our community, stakeholders, and constituents include the minority neighborhoods and diverse small business clients we exist support, policy decision makers who create opportunity for (or barriers to) racial wealth equity; municipal and county leaders seeking to build robust economies and develop workforce-affordable housing for their residents; universities and training programs who are working to align with future innovations (EV charging infrastructure, R&D start-ups, and others); and those large corporate entities seeking to hire and serve the growing diversity that exists across the country and world around us.

Across all programs, we intentionally engage and/or support partners who are community led, community aligned, and community focused. We form links between our minority entrepreneur clients and the tools, resources and policies needed to succeed.

This includes:

• Data-based social science research and disparity-related impact studies under our Research Policy and Impact Center
• Connecting minority and women entrepreneurs to contracting opportunities, business and professional networks, and other opportunities for growth under our Center for Entrepreneurship
• Creating economic opportunity through DEI understanding and supplier inclusion channels through our Center for Professional Services
• Providing nontraditional capital through Center for Community Investment

Our team also look like and live in the communities we serve. Our leadership team is 81% Black, 14% White and 5% Latinx and full staff is 17% White, 72% Black, 2% Asian and 9% Latinx. Our full team is 82% female. Board and advisory councils are similarly diverse.

As we continue to sift through the post-pandemic economy, there are several key industry segments in which the gaps are greatest: research and development, technology solutions, construction, and healthcare. Parallel to those are food growth and production, housing, and education -- each of which also has a tech component, and all of which are particularly scarce in and among minority communities.

At the same time, these are also the areas with the greatest economic opportunities. Construction has been on the rise across all sectors, from housing to commercial to transportation and infrastructure development. Technology -- whether in manufacturing, service delivery, or in security and data safety -- is similarly behind in meeting demand.

The Institute has been working diligently to prepare women and minority entrepreneurs to be at the forefront of these opportunities, focusing on five core areas:

1. Increasing diverse woman-owned business starts in STEM and Research and Development.

2. Increasing the number of prepared women contractors and subcontractors relevant to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).

3. Supporting minority students at HBCUs and other institutions to provide entrepreneurial training and access to capital for student-led start-ups.

4. Facilitating successful capital attainment for growth-ready very small businesses in disadvantaged rural areas across our footprint.

5. Supporting the success of Hispanic-owned businesses, with an emphasis on those owned by women.

We have tested, proven, program models that are ready to scale across expanded geography. These models are also replicable, with minor changes or specific content additions for business sector.

Our current goals focus on capacity-building, streamlining operations for greater impact, purposeful external partnerships, and internal alignment among our leaders to ensure that successful programs can be shared and replicated. Priorities include:

• People first: increased support of our team’s engagement, personal fulfillment and professional development.
• Organizational growth: expanded capacity to better fulfill the needs of our clients and mission.
• Stability: diversify funding and revenue streams to ensure continued financial health.
• Client satisfaction: ensuring that our programs help clients meet their entrepreneurial goals.

We have seen substantial gains in interest, support and partnerships. In response, we continue to expand services and programs to best serve those needs. Our only barriers are capacity and technology. Both are imperative to our continued success.

• Technology provides solutions to everyday workflow, reduces redundancies, and improves operational efficiency. This includes accessibility solutions for rural areas; detailed data capture and resource mapping; seamless impact reporting; and digital learning platforms for personalized education.
• Growing our staff, our skills and knowledge, our relationships, and our representation across our full geographic area and demographics is vital to our reputation, our ability to gain trust, and the overall success of the minority and women small business owners, families and communities that we touch.

Funding from the Truist Inspire Award would allow us to better leverage these resources, enabling us to drill down even further to affect change where it is needed most.

The Institute seeks relationships with: HBCUs and other universities with large minority student populations; CDFIs and other lenders; local, state and federal government entities – such as SBA, HUB and MBDA offices; other nonprofits serving diverse businesses. We also form collaborative impact partnerships to create change in minority dense communities. Current examples include:

• We operate four SBA-funded Women’s Business Centers, two of which sit on HBCU campuses
• Our Minority Student Entrepreneur Learning Lab will provide virtual hub-and spoke education, mentorship, pitch practice and access to funding for 3rd and 4th year diverse students.
• Our Mid-Atlantic Region Small Business Transportation Center, funded in part by the USDOT, supports women and minority businesses in gaining successful procurement opportunities under state and federal DOT projects.
• We have MOUs in place with the Guatemalan and Mexican Consulates of North Carolina, the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Hispanic Contractors’ Association, and the NC Hispanic Chamber to support entrepreneur education for Latinx business owners.
• The Institute serves as backbone organization in two large community impact collaborative projects, including a $5million grant from Partnerships for Equitable Communities to support justice-involved individuals in the City of Durham.

Additional, appropriate partnerships are always of interest particularly in tech/STEM industries.