If women decide on starting their own businesses, they normally approach their friends or relatives for loans, or try to obtain commercial loans from banks. For women falling in the minority category such as Asian, Spanish-American, or African-American who want to start businesses, there is a special benefit set aside known as minority women business grants.
Basically, a grant is a loan which is given by the granter to the receiver free of the need to repay. This simply means that if you receive any kind of grant, it is not necessary for you to repay it back again to the granter. You can use up all the money for the purpose you had applied the grant for. It is kind of free money or free gift to the needy, that are normally provided by various non-profit institutions and other businesses, with the federal government being the major lender. Apart from federal government grants, individual states and regional authorities also have their own set of grants to be offered to women from the minority class.
Difference Between a Loan and a Grant
A loan is where you have to pay back the amount to the lender with due interest. Whereas, a grant is free, and there is no need for repayment. One more point to note is that, you are eligible for business loans only after the lenders are convinced with your credit status. While in the case of grants, your credit history is not checked, since there is no need for repayment. On the downside, the grant obtaining process can be more complicated than of loans. Unlike loans, grants to be offered are limited in numbers, therefore due to a huge number of applicants, there can be only few who can receive this free money.
Obtaining Minority Women Business Grants
As grants are limited, you need to do some preparations for increasing your chances of obtaining the grants. For bettering your chances of receiving minority grants, you most importantly need to devise a business plan according to the business you are thinking of setting up. The chances of you being unsuccessful in obtaining the grants are high if you do not have a proper business plan which will assure the granters that the funds are going to be used for a good purpose. In preparing a good business plan, you can take help from business writing professionals or consultants.
With a sound business plan proposal, there also might be further requirements to be eligible for receiving the grants. Such requirements are usually industry specific. There are some women grant schemes which provide grants to women only from a specified work sector. Coming to how much money can be obtained in these repayment-free minority business loans, grants can include financial aid ranging from $1,000 to $25,000. This money can be used for the purpose of starting a new business altogether, expanding current business, or executing other business growth strategies.
The main key to succeed in getting grants is preparing a proper business plan. You can check the government's website for any information regarding the eligibility criteria of obtaining federal government grants. You can also check with several non-profit business organizations or women welfare societies in your locality if they are offering any grants.
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