Everyone's Business: Building Minority Businesses to Scale

October 31, 2008

Everyone's Business: Building Minority Businesses to Scale for Our Region's Future defines the obstacles to reaching that next level and suggests public and private sector support strategy.

Although the challenge cannot be overcome overnight and will require a long-term investment, the benefits of a flourishing minority-owned business community will help the region's future by:

• Increasing employment in minority communities,
• Enhancing our region's economy and growing the tax base, and
• Reducing demand on social services and creating social stability.

That more than 40 years of national, state, and local policies and programs have succeeded in aiding minority business endeavors is good news. But it's not a signal that we can take the issue off the regional to-do list. To make Greater Philadelphia a world-class region, it needs all sectors performing to their potential. And to optimize minority business performance, we need to identify and understand the challenges and opportunities of bringing them to the next level of size, profitability, and influence.