National Minority Suppliers Development Council Certification
Providing a direct link between corporate America and minority-owned businesses is the primary objective of the National Minority Supplier Development Council (“NMSDC”), one of the country’S leading business membership organizations. The Council was chartered in 1972 to provide increased procurement and business opportunities for minority businesses of all sizes. An NMSDC certification is the accreditation most widely recognized by corporate America.

The NMSDC has standardized procedures to assure consistent and identical review and certification of minority-owned businesses. These businesses are certified by NMSDC’S affiliate nearest to the company’S headquarters. Standardized procedures assure consistent and identical review and certification of minority-owned businesses throughout the NMSDC Network. The NMSDC is the only national minority business development organization providing certification throughout the U.S. where MBEs are genuinely minority-owned and operated, and ready to do business

The NMSDC’s definition of a minority-owned business is a for-profit enterprise, regardless of size, physically located in the United States or its trust territories, which is owned, operated and controlled by minority group members. "Minority group members" are United States citizens who are Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native American. 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, the management and daily operations are controlled by those minority group members.

For purposes of NMSDC’S program, a minority group member is an individual who is a U.S. citizen with at least 1/4 or 25% minimum (documentation to support claim of 25% required from applicant) of the following:

Asian-Indian: A U.S. citizen whose origins are from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Asian-Pacific: A U.S. citizen whose origins are from Japan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Trust Territories of the Pacific or the Northern Marianas.

Black: A U.S. citizen having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.

Hispanic: A U.S. citizen of true-born Hispanic heritage, from any of the Spanish-speaking areas of the following regions: Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean Basin only. Brazilians shall be listed under Hispanic designation for review and certification purposes.

Native American: A person who is an American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut or Native Hawaiian, and regarded as such by the community of which the person claims to be a part. Native Americans must be documented members of a North American tribe, band or otherwise organized group of native people who are indigenous to the continental United States and proof can be provided through a Native American Blood Degree Certificate (i.e., tribal registry letter, tribal roll register number).

A minority business may be certified as a minority "controlled" enterprise if the minority owners own at least 30% of the economic equity of the firm. This occurs when non-minority institutional investors contribute a majority of the firm’s risk capital (equity). Under this special circumstance, a business may be certified as a minority "controlled" firm if the following criteria are met:

A.  Minority management/owners control the day-to-day operations of the firm.
B.  Minority management/owners retain a majority (no less than 51%) of the
      firm’s “voting equity”.
C.  Minority owner/s operationally control the board of directors (i.e., must
      appoint a majority of the board of directors).

The NMSDC Network includes a national office in New York and 39 regional councils across the country. Currently, there are 3,500 corporate members throughout the network, including most of America’S largest publicly-owned, privately-owned and foreign-owned companies, as well as universities, hospitals and other buying institutions. The regional councils certify and match approximately 15,000 minority owned businesses (Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native American) with member corporations which want to purchase goods and services. Once certified and part of the NMSDC Network, over two-thirds of minority business enterprises (MBEs) confirm business increases due to their partnerships with the Council’s corporate members.