Resources for Early Stage Entrepreneurs
We’ve curated a collection of Entrepreneurship resources, with an emphasis on business support organizations and agencies serving minority, non-traditional and under represented small business owners, in the Tampa Bay area and beyond. This is not an exhaustive list, nor does inclusion on this list imply endorsement. Please do your own homework when evaluating resources here or anywhere else, to ensure quality and fit for your small business.
Local & State Organizations
- Action Zone Tampa– for veteran’s small business support
- Cigar City Toastmasters – refine your pitch!
- City of Tampa Equal Business Opportunity center
- Hillsborough County Economic Development – Minorities, Women & Small Business office
- Hillsborough County Business Development Workshop and Training Calendar
- Florida Small Business Development Centers
- SCORE small business mentors
- Tampa Bay Black Business Investment Corp
- Tampa LGBTQ Chamber
- Veterans Florida Entrepreneurship Resources
National Organizations
- Accion – Providing loans for minorithttps://uiausa.org/y owned businesses
- Association of Black Real Estate Experts
- Association for Latino Professionals for America
- Black Founders – working to increase the number of successful black entrepreneurs in technology.
- Black Girl Ventures
- Black Realtors Directory
- Case Foundation – Inclusive Entrepreneurship
- Coalition to Back Black Businesses
- Digital Undivided – developing innovative programs and initiatives to catalyze economic growth in Black and Latinx communities.
- Dreamers Ventures
- Economic Innovation Group
- Faces of Founders – A Discussion of Entrepreneurship, Race, Place and Gender
- Latina Business Association
- Latino Start Up Alliance
- National Association for the Self-Employed
- Minority Business Development Agency
- Minority Venture Partners – Accelerating product development for minority and women-led tech start ups
- National Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc
- United Inventors Association
- United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
- United States Minority Chamber of Commerce
- Vertical 404 – investing in early stage Black, Latinx and Women founders who are rethinking & advancing the Future of Work, Health, Finance and Media
Online Tools
- Data Wrapper – A data visualization tool – free with professional-level subscriptions where needed (free acct is great though!)
- Duns Number – The Dun & Bradstreet D‑U‑N‑S Number is a unique nine-digit identifier for businesses. It stands for “data universal numbering system”. D‑U‑N‑S Numbers are often referenced by lenders and potential business partners to help predict the reliability and/or financial stability of the company in question. Please Note: This is free do not pay for a DUNS number!
- Employer Identification Number (EIN)
- Florida Expert Net
- How to Get Certified as a Minority Owned Business (U.S. Chamber of Commerce)
- How to Get Certified as a Women Owned Business (U.S. Chamber of Commerce) –
- Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs)
- Resources for (Free) Copyright-free Media & Marketing
- Google Images – Enter your search term (food, art, cats, etc) and in the screen that appears, click on “tools” which appears in the menu bar just below the search box, and right above the images. A bunch of choices will appear below that, among them “Usage Rights”. Select “Creative Commons” and everything that appears will be free to use. The process is similar in other browsers, when you search on images.
- Pixabay – for royalty free images and music
- Bensound – royalty free music
Good Reads
- 25 Resources for Entrepreneurs of Color
- America’s New Business Plan – Start Us Up, Kauffmann Foundation
- Color of Entrepreneurship: Why the Racial Gap among Firms Costs the U.S. Billions – Center for Global Policy Solutions
- The implications of U.S. gender and racial disparities in income and wealth inequality at each stage of the innovation process – Washington Center for Equitable Growth
- The State of Entrepreneurship, by the Numbers – Faces of Founders
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