How Minority-Owned Business Enterprises Can Thrive During High Inflation

The National Minority Supplier Development Council sparks opportunities to the challenges minority businesses face

Minority-owned businesses (defined as businesses that are at least 51% owned by people of Asian-Indian, Asian-Pacific, Black, Hispanic or Native American descent) have been disproportionately affected by the inflation.

According to the NMSDC 2022 Minority Businesses Economic Impact Report, Black businesses are feeling a bigger impact as they only generated a 4.6% revenue increase from 2021.

While this has been a challenging year, we believe many minority-owned companies may possess the exact combination of innovation and creativity needed to not only survive the inflation but thrive during it.

If you’re a minority business owner struggling to keep your company afloat, here are a few tips, to help your company emerge from the pandemic and inflation stronger and more agile than ever:

1. Diversify your suppliers: Rising costs and supply chain disruptions can impact your business. Consider diversifying your supplier base to mitigate risks and explore alternative sources for essential materials or services. NMSDC Supplier Diversity Program can increase companies competitiveness, drive innovation and create positive economic impact in the minority business enterprises we serve.
2. Streamline Operations: Look for opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce waste within your operations. Implement lean methodologies, adopt automation where appropriate, and optimize your supply chain to minimize costs and maximize productivity. Integrating a lean philosophy into operations and standards seems to be a natural fit for NMSDC’s MBE community, which is using lean practices to be more innovative and responsive to customers.
3. Invest in Technology: Leverage technology solutions to enhance productivity, improve operational efficiency, and gain a competitive edge. Explore customer relationship management (CRM) systems, data analytics tools, and other technologies relevant to your industry.
4. Seek Financing Options: Scaling a business often requires additional capital. Explore financing options such as loans, lines of credit, or grants that may be available specifically for minority-owned businesses or through government programs. At NMSDC, we understand the challenges entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities face in accessing the necessary funding to start, grow, and sustain their businesses. To help address these challenges, NMSDC has launched The Growth Initiative which provides MBEs with the potential for substantial growth and with the opportunity to access equity capital, while retaining management and control. Also NMSDC offers the Capital Manager’s Program, which is the most comprehensive database of capital firms with an ethnic minority founder and/or a focus on the minority business ecosystem. Ultimately, this program, in conjunction with NMSDC’s current Growth Initiative, is about rapidly increasing the amount of capital available to MBEs and helping NMSDC get one step closer to its goal of $1 trillion in annual revenue for NMSDC-certified MBEs
5. Networking and Collaboration: Engage with industry leaders and other minority business enterprises. Hailed as the largest minority business conference in the world, the NMSDC’s Annual Conference and Exchange provides minority business owners across the nation networking opportunities with over 5,000 corporate CEOs, procurement executives, supplier diversity professionals and leading minority business owners from across the nation. For more information visit: https://nmsdcconference.org/2023

About NMSDC– Founded in 1972, NMSDC is the longest-operating business growth engine for the broadest group of systematically excluded communities of color (Asian-Indian, Asian-Pacific, Black, Hispanic, and Native American), and our impact goes far beyond the supply chain. It’s about upward mobility for the emerging majority of Americans, an equal shot at participating in the American experiment of free-market capitalism and entrepreneurship. Our work is about correcting the unequal access to wealth-building opportunities.