Corporations, the federal government, and state agencies all want to do business with minority-owned companies. The Department of Transportation, for example, requires that recipients of its funding award a percentage of contracts to minority-owned businesses and many large companies have goals for buying from minority-owned suppliers.

The reason for such mandates is twofold. First, contracting with minority-owned businesses is important to customers: ‘Corporate America understands that you cannot expect minorities to buy things when you haven’t done business with minorities,’ says Steven Sims, the vice president of the National Minority Supplier Development Council. Second, it’s responsible: ‘It’s important because we have an obligation in government to ensure that all firms in our state have an opportunity to participate in contracts that are paid for with tax dollars,’ says Luwanda Jenkins, the special secretary of minority affairs for Maryland. Read More