Starting up a business can be pretty hard, especially when you need to find financial support. Therefore, it is understandable that people are looking for free money for their business, including minority small business grants for business start up. The big question is: is there such grant available in United States?
You may have heard or read about free money from the government for private businesses, and some may even charge you some dollars to get that information. Before you’re swayed by their marketing talk, we would like to give you the real information about this matter. Are you ready?
Minority Small Business Grants for Business Start Up Opportunities
First off, it is true that there are numerous grant programs coming from the government. They are distributed to the state government, nonprofit organizations, community organizations, and individual. Grants for businesses are considered as an individual or personal grants. Unfortunately, most of (if not all of all of) the individual grants are given in the field of education. There are other indirect personal grants such as food stamps or health benefits such as medicare and Medicaid, but there are no currently available direct personal federal grants for business.
If you are a minority and are trying to make your first business there are other forms of financial aid available, but before we talk about this, let’s dig into what the government offers.
Rural Business Opportunity Grant
People living in rural areas in United States can benefit from this grant. It’s not a direct grant, so no money is given directly to business owners. The money from the grant is usually used for technical assistance and training related to the business development. Contact your local US Department of Agriculture for more information.
Small Business Administration Grant
This grant program is also an indirect grant program aimed to provide technical help, training and building business capacity of business owners, especially if the owners are from a minority community.
State Grants
It’s true that there are no federal grants available for personal business owners, but there is still hope coming from your state government. Depending on which state you’re living on, you may be eligible for minority small business grants for business start up. Usually, these grants are administered by each of the state’s Department of Economic Development or equivalent agency. Although the programs are –in essence– quite similar, each state may have different program name and requirements. Some state requires you to be the first-time owner of the business while other adds a requirement stating that the business should have been available for the last three years. Most have regulations on the income limit of the business, which is around $4 million annually.
Other
There are several other notable non-government grant providers, but most are available in the form of grant competition. Some notable instances are the Georgia-Pacific grant and Amber Foundation Grant.
Last but not least, you may want to consider getting a business loan. Minorities who own their first business are often eligible for the low-interest loan program coming from the SBA. These loans have long period for repayment and you don’t need your credit report to qualify. Contact the SBA office in your state for this option.
I hope you find this post helpful for your search for minority small business grants for business start up.
References:
- U.S. Small Business Administration
- United States Department of Agriculture
- Image: allbusiness.com
