Here is a short background on MBE certifications. An "MBE certification" is the certification you obtain that verifies that your business is 51% or more owned, controlled, and operated by one or more minorities. "MBE" stands for "Minority Business Enterprise," and can be used to refer to a minority owned business, whether or not that business has a formal certification.
With those definitions, lets explore some of the ways that you can use multiple levels of MBE certifications to expand your minority-owned business. Your business can obtain an MBE certification at a local government level, state government level, federal government level, and at a national level (for selling to Corporate America). You should obtain one or more of these certifications depending on whom you would like to sell your products and services to.
For example, if you are interested in selling to a state government agency, then consider a state MBE certification, but if you want to sell to various large corporations then you should consider a national certification.
It is worth noting that you are not necessarily required to have an MBE certification to do business with large corporations or the government. However, some of these entities may require or encourage you to get an MBE certification if you want to get on their radar as a small business. The primary reason for considering an MBE certification is to increase your chances of getting the government or these large corporations as clients.
So what is the point of obtaining MBE certifications? The federal government does not have projects that are "required" to be set-aside just for minority owned businesses. But as a practical matter, the federal government does make significant efforts to award a certain percentage of contracts to minority companies. Some state and local government agencies, and large corporations do have special projects they set aside for MBE's. So there are still incredible advantages with the federal government and large corporations if you are a MBE.
If your business offers goods or services that you would like to sell to government agencies in your state, then a state MBE certification is definitely worth considering.
One very effective strategy for growing your business can be to obtain a MBE certification in more than one state. Despite popular belief to the contrary, you can in fact obtain certifications in many different states. This would allow you to compete on projects from state government agencies in each state in which you are certified, with the special advantages that your MBE status gives you.
There is no doubt some extra work involved in applying for an MBE certification in multiple states. So I wouldn't recommend that you spend the effort submitting the various applications unless you are serious about trying to sell to government agencies in the respective state.
Another strategy to consider for increasing your sales is to use the various types of certifications in combination. In other words, you can obtain a state MBE certification for increasing your chances to sell to state government agencies, use your self-certified federal MBE certification to help get federal government contracts, and obtain a national certification to help get more contracts from large corporations.
Before you rush out and apply for one or more of these certifications, take a moment to consider who the ideal customer is for your products and services. Then, you can determine the level of certification to go for that will best increase your chances of obtaining that entity as a client. It would be a waste of time to pursue a certification if you don't plan to sell to an entity that the certification is used for.
But if you have determined that one of your ideal customers does in fact include one of these wealthy clients, then you should definitely pursue the MBE certification targeted to that ideal customer. It cannot hurt, and can only help increase your chances of getting work from that potential customer.
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