Technical assistance, which includes business plan assistance is available through the local BBIC serving your community. You may also seek assistance through a small business development center (SBDC) located in your community. For a SBDC near you, please visit: http://www.floridasbdc.org/Home/Location.asp. A guide to a sample business plan can be downloaded at the following:http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner.

Your local governmental entity (i.e., city or county government) may have an economic development or business assistance program. Additionally, the U.S. Small Business Administration is an excellent source for guidance and tips on starting your business. To find out more please visit http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/index.html.

The Florida Legislature tasked the FBBIB with facilitating access to capital for black entrepreneur and business owners, as well as providing technical assistance and procurement assistance. The FBBIB does not engage in any financing activities. Instead, black entrepreneurs and business owners are provided financing (direct loans and loan guarantees) through FBBIB’s network of financing partners called black business investment corporations (BBICs). To contact the BBIC that serves your community regarding financing needs, please click on the following: Financing Assistance.

Loan terms and pricing are established by either the Board of Directors or Credit/Investment Committee of each of the BBICs and will vary based on the individual circumstances and credit risks of each entrepreneur or business owner. Notwithstanding this, all BBICs are subject to State of Florida usury laws. See Financing Assistance

Neither the FBBIB nor the BBICs provide grants. All loan transactions are entered into with the expectation that the loan will be repaid. Repayment is important to ensure that funds are available for future entrepreneurs and business owners and also to ensure that the entrepreneur or business owner can build a solid credit history and become a viable candidate for conventional bank financing. Moreover, failure to repay a loan may result in adverse credit and legal consequences for the entrepreneur or business owner.

Generally speaking, loans are provided for general business reasons – equipment or inventory purchases, business acquisitions, franchise acquisition, real estate acquisition for business purposes, contract financing, working capital lines of credit, etc. Additionally, since loans are funded in part by public dollars, each loan must serve a public purpose such as job creation or job retention. Please contact the BBIC that serves your community for other permissible loan purposes.

To be eligible for BBIC financing consideration, the entrepreneur or business owner must be black and a resident of the State of Florida. If the applicant is a corporation, limited liability company or partnership, the entity must be a Florida entity that is at least 51% owned and managed by a black resident of the State of Florida. Please contact the BBIC that serves your community to inquire as to whether it administers other loan programs.

In its role as an advocate for black businesses in the State of Florida, the FBBIB works with state lawmakers and policy makers to foster a fair and equitable procurement process – particularly in state procurement. FBBIB staff also works closely with staff of the Florida Department of Management Services Office of Supplier Diversity (OSD) and its Diversity Working Group (made up of state purchasing officials) to ensure that certified black-owned businesses participate in the state procurement process.

OSD is the certifying entity for the State of Florida. To become certified as an MBE and register to do business with the State of Florida, please visit the OSD website a http://www.dms.myflorida.com/osd.

After your business is certified and registered to do business with the State of Florida, be sure to ask OSD staff about the process of becoming a “state term contractor”. This designation is important because many state purchases must be from a “state term contractor”.

The FBBIB is not a membership organization. It is a State of Florida created non-profit corporation tasked with developing black business in the State of Florida through capital access, technical and procurement assistance. However, the FBBIB welcomes the opportunity to add you to its database of other Florida entrepreneur and business owners like you so that we may provide you with information related to financing, technical assistance and procurement opportunities, and seek your input on legislative and regulatory proposals that impact your business. To register your business with FBBIB click here.