Help For Small and Minority-Owned Businesses
Free Business Advice, Workshop and Orientation  

M. Gill & Associates and the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale Minority Business Development Center, in conjunction with the U. S. Department of Commerce and the Small Business Administration, are pleased to present the general public with a free weekly program where a variety of business advice will be offered.

The environment is interactive, so you get to give and receive feedback.  Learn about...Starting, Financing and Growing Your Business (Incorporations, marketing, doing business with the government, getting minority certification, CSBE & CBE certifications, international marketing, launching a new product, selling to major retailers, Empowerment Zone programs, Business Plan and Loan Packaging requirements, and much more).

Get answers to questions about the puzzles and the challenges that you are encountering in your business.  Then arrange a one-on-one consultation to privately discuss your needs.

• PROGRAM LOGISTICS
  
  Every Wednesday (except first Weds. of the month)
  10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon
  Minority Business Development Center
  3050 Biscayne Blvd.
  Suite 201
  Miami, FL 33137
  
  RSVP:   786-316-0888 OR 1-800-730-5581
  

MED WEEK 2002 A Huge Success

The team of consultants of M. Gill & Associates, along with a 40-member committee of MED Week Volunteers, organized and promoted Minority Enterprise Development Week 2002.  It was the 20^th Annual Summit on Minority Enterprise Development, attracting over 3,700 participants from Monroe to Palm Beach County during the week of September 30 – October 5.  MED Week 2002 offered a variety of training and networking sessions, focusing on contractual and financing opportunities, marketing, growth management, minority certification and exporting.  There was a mini trade fair, an awards gala, a tour of small and minority businesses by corporate and government buyers, and a summit on minority business needs.

MED Week 2002 teamed up with the Miami-Dade Empowerment Trust and its Second Annual Empowerment Zone Conference.  There were several local and national keynote speakers, including the National Director of the U.S. Department of Commerce, MBDA, Ronald N. Langston;  media mogul, Tony Brown (Tony Brown’s Journal); Wayne Curtis, Vice President of Fannie Mae Corporation; Linda Williams from the national SBA’s Office of Government Contracting; then State Senator, Kendrick Meek: City of Miami Mayor, Manny Diaz, Commissioner Dorrin Rolle, and a keynote presentation at the Empowerment Zone Conference by retiring Congresswoman Carrie P. Meek.

To learn how you can sponsor or participate in MED Week, e-mail marie@mgillonline.com or call 1-800-730-5581.

 MED Week/EZ Conference Highlights:

MED Week volunteers plan this year's sessions.	The MED Week 2002 Confer- ence audience...
Tony Brown of "Tony Brown's Journal" making an impassioned plea for economic empowerment for minorities.	Left to Right: Bryan Finnie, President/CEO, Empowerment Trust, City of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, Congresswoman Carrie Meek and Empowerment Trust Chairman T. Willard Fair
Panelists who presented at the EZ Conference, Lyric Theatre in Overtown on October 4th.	Six minority-owned companies received equity investment financing totaling $2 million from Miami-Dade Empowerment Trust during the 2nd Annual EZ conference.  County Com-  missioner Dorin Rolle, 3rd from left made the presentations.

"Empowerment Trust - A Recipe for Success"
 by Marie R. Gill

[Following is an excerpt from Marie Gill's recent article which appeared in an online issue of the South Dade Monitor.]

If your neighborhood is hungry for success stories of economic growth, try being at the table with the Miami-Dade Empowerment Trust, Inc. Before you begin to dine, check out their full-course menu of programs and services that have yielded a committed portfolio of over $130 million in programs and services-results that have been pleasing the economic pallets of community residents and business owners throughout Miami-Dade County’s Federal Empowerment Zone.

The ingredients for the success of the Empowerment Trust are distinctive. Take a yearly allocation of federal and county funding, mixed with well thought-out public /private partnership initiatives, add a heavy helping of neighborhood resident participation, include a constant supply of small to medium sized businesses, add a dash of community-based service projects, marinate with the proper due diligence and board oversight, then simmer anywhere from 30 to 60 days, appoint capable and committed management and staff, and you’ll have a recipe for economic development success that’s "to die for."