[Orcnet] Do you know anything about small business grants

[Federici Business Group]

Terry Lang wrote:
> Do you know anything about small business grants?
>
> I was contacted recently about receiving a grant to expand my business.
>
> Any insite would help.
>
> Terry Lang
> _______________________________________________
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> Orcnet at eeconsult.org
> http://eeconsult.org/mailman/listinfo/orcnet
>
>   
Dear Terry,

    It is interesting that you ask this question.  Last September I was 
engaged by a woman client to investigate this same question.  In this 
case my client believed that she had a little bit of an advantage since 
hers is a woman-owned business.  My client supplied me with a pair of 
commercially prepared CDs advertising that they contained contact 
information for sources of small business grants.

    It turned out that one of the CDs contained only information about 
how to prepare a grant application.  From the other CD, I captured only 
three opportunities from an advertised 1,500 possibilities.  The three 
opportunities I found were:

    The Small Business Administration's Office of Women's Business 
Ownership in Washington, D.C. Telephone:(202) 205-6673

    Department of Commerce's Minority Business Development Agency in 
Washington, D.C.  Telephone: (202) 377-8015

    The State of Oregon's Sales Office of Minority, Women, and Emerging 
Business in Salem, Oregon

Upon investigating these opportunities, I discovered very quickly that 
/*NONE*/ of these institutions offer any grants to small business owners 
to start, expand, or operate their companies.  Indeed, the initial 
telephone answering message on the Small Business Administration's phone 
states that they do not offer grants.  I can also refer you to an 
article published by the Commerce Department's Minority Business 
Development Agency on their website titled, "The Myth of Free Government 
Money: a Perennial and Pernicious Scam".  The URL for this article is:

            
http://www.mbda.gov/?section_id=3&bucket_id=101&content_id=3286&well=entire_page

Finally, the URL, http://www.egov.oregon.gov/DCBS/OMWESB/about_us.shtml, 
takes you to the State of Oregon's disclaimer regarding itself as a 
source of small business grants.

    So, Terry, I'm sorry to pass along the news that free government 
grants are a scam.  I send my best wishes that you are able to expand 
your company's business by some other means.

          Ciao!----Susan Federici, PhD, MBA
                   Federici Business Group










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