This October, Meda will host an eventful business-plan competition modeled on the television show “Shark Tank.” The competition will include a speed-pitching event, educational opportunities, a business accelerator and four finalist awards, including a collective $1 million investment in the finalists’ businesses.

Catalyst is a consortium of seven Minnesota-based organizations that support minority entrepreneurs and their businesses. We are pioneering an incentive-driven, collaborative model that will dramatically increase the quality and quantity of services available to minority businesses and bring their collective economic impact to scale.

The Meda Mini MBA was designed to help minority entrepreneurs accelerate their businesses through an intensive seven-month program. Using a peer-based learning approach, business owners gain the business knowledge, management know-how, and relationships needed to grow. Industry experts, business peers, and the instructor provide insights, strategies, motivation, and accountability. At the end of the program, participants walk away with an individualized Strategic Growth Action Plan™ outlining the action steps required to achieve their business goals.

Meda is working in partnership with Junior Achievement of the Upper Midwest to provide nationally recognized curriculum, entrepreneurial training, mentor coaching, company creation support, job shadowing and paid internship offerings to high school students from North Minneapolis and St. Paul’s East Side.

The Kauffman Foundation recently announced that Meda has been selected as one of six entrepreneur support organizations as a grant recipient to form the first-ever Entrepreneurs’ Policy Network, an alliance of organizations that will bring the voices of entrepreneurs to policy debates at the state level.

The Otto Bremer Trust is collaborating with Meda to create the Otto Bremer Small Business Fund, which will provide $1 million in patient capital to minority entrepreneurs, allowing them more freedom to grow their businesses without immediate pressure to repay their loans.

In the Spring of 2017, the Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program convened the Aspen Institute Forum on Latino Business Growth, bringing together 27 thought leaders – including Meda’s President & CEO, Gary L. Cunningham – to develop practical solutions to address the barriers that Latino-owned business owners face.

Meda has partnered with JPMorgan Chase to award the Most Innovative Minority Entrepreneur category in the MN Cup competition. In 2017, the $20,000 prize was awarded to UnderRecruited Preps for their technology, rapid growth, and business success.

In the Spring of 2017, the Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program convened the Aspen Institute Forum on Latino Business Growth, bringing together 27 thought leaders – including Meda’s President & CEO, Gary L. Cunningham – to develop practical solutions to address the barriers that Latino-owned business owners face.

The Expanding Black Business Credit Initiative (EBBC) is an effort to close gaps that Black entrepreneurs face in starting and maintaining businesses due to less access to formal credit. The EEBC brings together Community Development Financial Institutions, such as Meda, to expand Black business credit by 250 percent over the next three to five years.