Minority Business Enterprise Certification

Minority Business Enterprise Certification is provided by the concerned 'Minority Business Enterprise' wing of 'Arkansas Economic Development Commission' under Act 1456 of 2003. The Act was made for creating the required rule structure for the said minority business enterprise certification.

Glossary Pertaining to Minority Business Enterprise Certification Program

• Minority Business Enterprise: An independent business enterprise where 51% or more of the ownership stake belongs to the individual owner or owners from minorities
  
• Minority: It refers to a person who is lawfully a permanent resident of Arkansas. He can be an African American, a Pacific Islander, a Hispanic American or someone from Asia or an American Indian

Eligibility for Obtaining Minority Business Enterprise Certification

To be eligible for the Minority Business Enterprise Certification the applicants need to fulfill certain conditions.

These are the following:

• They need to be registered Arkansas Businesses with proper documents. They have to show proper papers to support their claim of being a Minority Business Enterprise
• The annual revenue figure of the firm should be within $10,000,000
• They must have the legal permission to conduct business activity in USA, particularly in Arkansas
• The firm owner or owners need to be a permanent resident(s) of Arkansas

Application Procedure for Minority Business Enterprise Certification

Applicants need to fill up required forms and submit it to the division of the minority business enterprise under the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. The commission reviews the submitted documents, cross checks the given references and at times arranges for pre-certification meetings or on site visits.

A host of documents are subject to detailed examination which include :

• Vendor Agreements
• Articles of Incorporation
• Invoices
• Partnership Agreements and the like

Check list of documents needed for Minority Business Enterprise Certification

The documents needed for the purpose are the following:

• The filled up application form
• Partnership agreement or operating agreement for businesses which have multiple owners
• A transcript of the Articles of Incorporation
• Transcript of professional license
• Bank signature card transcript
• Bonding information
• Federal Tax Identification Number
• Transcript of insurance
• Validation of both federal and state income tax returns for the last 3 years both for the personal and business category.
• Transcript of Birth Certificate or Tribal Card or Passport or Green Card of the applicant(s)
• Transcript(s) of the CVs of the entrepreneur(s)