THE MINORITY ENTERPRISE SMALL BUSINESS INVESTMENT COMPANY PROGRAM - INSTITUTIONALIZING A NONVIABLE MINORITY BUSINESS ASSISTANCE INFRASTRUCTURE

Specialized small business investment companies (SSBICs) are privately owned companies that are funded by the U.S. Small Business Administra tion to finance minority-owned businesses. Most SSBICs began operation s as nonviable companies, inherently limited in their ability to serve the range of capital needs of small firms in their targeted markets. Most of the SSBICs chartered over the last 26 years are out of busines s today. In the midst of this generally dismal industry, some SSBICs a re growing substantially and operating profitably from their returns o n minority business investments. This article differentiates the succe ssful SSBICs from the failures.