Certification Criteria
- An MBE is a for-profit enterprise, regardless of size, physically located in the United States or its trust territories, which is owned, controlled and managed by minority group members. “Minority group members” are U.S. citizens who are African-American, Latino-American, Native American, Asian-Pacific American or Asian-Indian American by birth and bloodline. “Ownership” by minority individuals means the business is at least 51% owned by such individuals or, in the case of a publicly-owned business, at least 51% of the stock is owned by one or more such individuals. Further, those minority group members control the governance of the business and manage its daily business operations.
- For purposes of National Minority Supplier Development Council’s (NMSDC) program, an ethnic-minority group member is an individual who is a U.S. citizen with at least 1/4 or 25% minimum (third party governmental documentation to support claim of 25% required from applicant) and is a person whose bloodline reflects an indigenous heritage from the following countries:
African-American
A U.S. citizen having origins in any of the Black racial groups of sub-Saharan Africa. These countries include the following: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Afro-Caribbean descendants are also eligible.
Latin-American
A U.S. citizen of trueborn Latin heritage from any of the Spanish speaking areas of the following regions: Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean basin only. (Afro-Brazilian, indigenous/Indian only). These countries include the following: Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Panama, Guatemala, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Belize, and Nicaragua.
Native American
A person who is an American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut or native Hawaiian. Native Americans must be documented members of a North American tribe, band or organized group of native people who are indigenous to the United States. Proof must be provided.
Asian, Asian Indian and Pacific Islander American
A U. S. citizen whose origins are from the Asian Pacific Islander region. These countries include Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Guam, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Samoa, Thailand, Taiwan, the U.S. Trust Territories of the Pacific or the Northern Marianas and Vietnam.
