The Economic Stimulus Package and You

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending an excellent seminar regarding opportunities for minority businesses within the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or as it is more widely recognized, the federal Economic Stimulus Package. The event was organized by the Florida Regional Minority Business Council and facilitated by Dr. Fred McKinney, an economist who served on President Obama's transition team. This article will not provide an exhaustive treatment on the opportunities available under the Stimulus
Package.

However, there are several key take-aways from the discussion that I believe are extremely important to minority businesses. The take-aways are derived from three basic questions posed by Dr. McKinney at the outset of the event. Every minority-owned business enterprise (MBE) that is interested in profiting from the Stimulus Package should ask itself and then answer the questions. They are: (1) In three words or less, what goods and services do you market and sell? (2) What industries do you supply/sell to? (3) Do you have a written strategic plan?

These three questions are at the heart of the Economic Stimulus Package and You. In my January 2009 blogpost, I advised you to go to the White House website in order to educate yourselves on where the Stimulus spending will occur. You should also be aware of www.Recovery.gov and www.Stimuluswatch.org, but more importantly, you should research and gain understanding about state and industry-specific websites that detail how state Stimulus dollars will be spent. For example, information about Stimulus spending in the state of Florida may be accessed at www.Flarecovery.com.

Once you can determine where Stimulus spending will occur, then you will know, based on Question #1, whether you provide goods or services that will be purchased with Stimulus dollars. If you do not directly provide those goods and services, say, construction services, for example, you should then ask yourself Question #2. That is, do you supply or sell to any industries that will benefit from the Stimulus Package. Maybe you know nothing about construction or alternative energy, but perhaps you may provide staffing or other services to those industries that will directly benefit from Stimulus spending.

If the answer to Question #2 is no, then you may want to revisit or create a strategic plan for your business that includes targeting Stimulus industries. The federal deficit is predicted to be 1.8 trillion dollars. It isn't easy to fathom that number, but you may think of it loosely as the number of dollars the federal government intends to (over)spend. It would seriously behoove all minority businesses to spend some time figuring out where the dollars are going and how they can meaningfully participate.

One of the best ways to do this is to certify your business as minority-owned at both the corporate and government level and pay attention to what is going on in the local news, national news, the Internet, government and the Minority Business Councils. Log on to the websites mentioned and www.nmsdcus.org and follow what fellow MBEs are doing. You may also read up on the certification process and its benefits in my book, Tales My Grandma Told Me, a Business Diversity Fable. However, be aware that time is of the essence.

As Dr. McKinney put it, "Don't wait until you see the cranes going up" before you begin your work. By then, my friend, it will be too late.