Thriving As a Minority-Owned Business in Corporate America: Building a Pathway to Success for Minority Entrepreneurs

The dramatic increase in minority- and female-owned companies continues to transform the business world while setting standards for those who follow. Thriving as a Minority-Owned Business in Corporate America offers you a comprehensive guide to current practical knowledge of minority business development, from grants and loans to market building. This book demonstrates how you can use specific laws, institutions, and new technologies to set up and steer your business to success.

Expert coverage includes both established and underused resources at the federal, state, and local levels dedicated to minority business expansion. You will learn how to tap resources made available by government agencies like the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and programs such as the Offices of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI). Non-governmental funding sources (e.g., banks, credit unions, venture capital) are also examined in depth, with sound advice on approaching each.

The author explores the critical role of social media in leveling the playing field, spotlighting minority/female business-related sites and strategies for leveraging your online presence. And he provides real-world guidance on business certifications, tax breaks, credit issues, and more.

Whether you’re in start-up or expansion mode, after reading this book, you will have the know-how needed to seize the opportunity and succeed with your enterprise.

What You Will Learn

• Discover unused and unrecognized resources at the federal, state, and local level set up specifically for minority business
• See the difference between banks, thrifts, credit unions, angel investors, and venture capital, and how to approach each
• Use social media in support of minority business development goals
• Examine social media sites and trends: current and relevant minority business related social media sites and trends

About the Author

William Michael Cunningham is an economist, investment researcher, and ESG/Impact investing analyst. Cunningham researches, evaluates, develops, and creates unique high social impact investment vehicles.

He is founder of Creative Investment Research, MinorityBank.com, DiversityFund.com, and MinorityFinance.com. Mr. Cunningham is the author of The JOBS Act: Crowdfunding for Small Businesses and Startups, published by Apress. William has given keynote economic forecasting talks before the Financial Planning Association, the National Minority Supplier Development Council, Texas Association of Black Chambers of Commerce, the Denton, Dallas and Houston Black Chambers of Commerce. He spoke at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, at the Harvard Business School and at the Wharton School of Business DC Innovation Summit. He has given talks on social and impact investing in Finland, Switzerland, England, and Germany.

He has contributed to The Washington Post, the American Banker Newspaper, Black Enterprise Magazine, and Morning Consult. As a strong advocate for the integration of human values in finance, he develops new ways to combine social values and investing.

Cunningham has been involved in the provision of online resources to small businesses for over twenty-five years, posting his first website in 1995. In 2002, he published a proposal for an early version of crowdfunding. Cunningham graduated from Howard University with a BA in Economics. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where he earned his Master of Business Administration degree. He also holds a masters in economics from the University of Chicago.