Minority Business Development Agency

The Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that promotes growth and competitiveness of the United States' minority-owned businesses, including Hispanic and Latino American, Asian Pacific American, African American, and Native American businesses.

MBDA's stated mission is to promote the growth and competitiveness of minority-owned businesses by providing access to capital, access to contracts and access to market opportunities – both domestic and global. The main feature of the organization and its site is to provide business consulting services to minority business owners.

In March 2025, President Trump issued an executive order that directed eliminating the MBDA to the maximum extent of the law.

On March 5, 1969, President Richard Nixon issued Executive Order 11458, establishing the Office of Minority Business Enterprise. On October 13, 1971, President Nixon issued Executive Order 11625, which clarified MBDA's authority and expanded the scope of its operations. In 1979, the agency was renamed the Minority Business Development Agency.

The Reagan Administration established the Minority Business Development Center program, which became MBDA's primary method for delivering technical and management services to minority businesses. The George H.W. Bush Administration proposed eliminating the agency and transferring its mission to the Small Business Administration, but ultimately continued the agency as an entity within the Department of Commerce.

President Trump proposed eliminating all agency funding in his FY18 executive budget proposal. This reflected Heritage Foundation budget recommendations. His FY19 budget proposal recommended eliminating MBDA business centers but retaining the agency as a policy office.

On November 15, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which established the Minority Business Development Agency as a permanent agency. The law authorized $73 million in appropriations for MBDA for fiscal year (FY) 2021, $55 million for FY 2022, $70 million for FY 2023, and $68.25 million for FY 2024.

According to the MBDA, in FY 2023 it facilitated access to $1.5 billion of capital for minority-owned businesses and helped create or maintain 19,000 jobs.