It is important for the Maryland economy and for society, in general, to see to it that women and minorities have opportunities to start and grow businesses.
For this reason, the State of Maryland and other government bodies, including the federal government, give favorable status to qualifying businesses owned by women or minorities.
An example of the available benefits includes having an advantage when bidding on projects for the state or federal government. Other private organizations may elect to favor women-owned businesses or minority-owned businesses as well.
Declaring one’s business minority-owned or woman-owned is not just a matter of a business’s declaring it to be so.
Would-be customers usually expect the business to show certification that they are qualified as a minority business enterprise (MBE) or a women’s business enterprise (WBE).
While there are also private organizations that certify businesses, some states, including Maryland, have established their own requirements for certification.
Obtaining WBE or MBE certification may require legal work
In Maryland, whether a business qualifies for certification depends on a number of factors. For example, in addition to ownership, the business will also have to show that a person with minority status has meaningful control over the business’s operations.
On the legal level, obtaining certification may require some business transactions.
It may, for example, mean buying and selling interests in a business and doing some restructuring of the business’s organization.
When undergoing this process, an organization will have to balance qualifying for certification against its other business goals and objectives.
Likewise, the application for WBE or MBE certification itself can be legally complicated. An organization in the Baltimore area that wants certification may wish to have an experienced legal representative help them with their application.