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If you are a woman or minority owned business, doing business with federal and/or state & local governments might be an excellent opportunity to grow your business.

Note: Eligibility for some State of Ohio special funding programs may require state MBE or WBE certification.

If your business is B2B (business to business), large businesses often have preferences for procuring goods and services from woman-owned and minority-owned businesses.

Federal certification is different from state & local certification. To decide which is most important for your business, we suggest you first determine which market opportunity is most important. Also review the eligibility and documentation requirements checklists for certification programs [links below].

State of Ohio certification programs include:

• MBE - Minority Business Enterprise
• WBE - Women Business Enterprise
• Ohio's EDGE Program - Encouraging Diversity, Growth & Equity

These opportunities require business certification(s) which you can apply for using one of the assistance centers below.

See a helpful Cleveland ECDI overview article at
https://www.ecdi.org/post/mbe-wbe-and-edge-programs-what-you-need-to-know

Minority Business Enterprise - MBE: To learn more about becoming certified, see:

• State of  Ohio Minority MBE details at http://mbe.ohio.gov and checklist
• For additional assistance in Northeast Ohio, contact

  •  Cleveland Urban League Entrepreneurship Center and Minority Business Assistance Center [MBAC] 

Women Business Enterprise - WBE: To learn more about becoming WBE certified, see:

• State of  Ohio Women WBE details  and checklist
• For additional assistance in Northeast Ohio, contact
  • Women's Business Center at Cleveland ECDI 

Encouraging Diversity, Growth & Equity - EDGE: To learn more about becoming EDGE certified, see:

• See State of Ohio EDGE Program details and checklist
• For additional assistance in Northeast Ohio, contact

  • Cleveland Urban League Entrepreneurship Center and Minority Business Assistance Center [MBAC] 

For Federal certification programs, see

• new SCORE course [free] on supplier diversity programs 
• SBA's various certification programs 

A nearby Ohio Procurement Technical Assistance Center [PTAC]  can also provide assistance