Economic Impacts of the Minority Business Accelerator Program of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce
Prepared for:
Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber The Minority Business Accelerator (MBA) is the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber’s flagship initiative for regional economic inclusion.
This study of the MBA’s economic impact provides a numerical description of the MBA’s effect on the Cincinnati USA region.1 The study models the MBA’s current economic impact and forecasts the economic impact of reaching long-term MBA goals for corporate spending with local MBEs of $300 million in 2006 and $500 million in 2008. The 2004 business transaction activity of the MBA (i.e., joint ventures and new company formation) was also modeled and is referred to as current impact, this includes contractual supplier agreements that the MBA facilitated between minority business enterprises (MBEs) and other corporations.
Current Impact
In 2004:
- The MBA worked closely with 25 to 30 of the region’s largest MBE firms.
- The MBA assisted in the formation or expansion of five local MBEs (Deals: acquisitions, joint ventures etc.)
- The business transactions total $35MM in new revenues.
- Over $20MM in new contracts were let to the MBA portfolio.
- These contracts could generate between $110MM and $165MM in new economic activity over the life of the contracts.
Future Impacts
- The cumulative five year economic impact of reaching MBA goals is over $2 billion.
- Reaching local corporate MBE spend goals by year-end 2008 results in $1.56 billion in cumulative MBE revenue.
- This level of new economic activity has the impact of creating over 4,000 jobs.
Because of MBE hiring trends, it can be expected that between 40 and 50 percent of the new jobs created would go to minorities. In addition, these new jobs would generate between $300 and $400 million in earnings—further augmenting the city tax base.
The MBA has specific goals of creating large, scalable, and sustainable minority businesses, and this study suggests a positive relationship between these objectives and the tactical creation of substantial local demand through the MBA’s Corporate Partners. These results are directly related to the strategies and tactics employed by the MBA and support the initial feasibility study conducted by The Center for Entrepreneurial Thinking.
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