PIDC CELEBRATES MINORITY BUSINESSES

by PIDC
October 16, 2015

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PIDC was excited to participate in the 31st Annual Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week sponsored by the City of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia’s MED Week was full activities and workshops to celebrate minority businesses.  This years’ theme was PHL Center Stage “Building a Legacy of Opportunity”.  The week included a host of networking events and panel discussions on doing business with the City, the state of minority businesses in Pennsylvania, and access to capital among others.  PIDC also partnered with the Office of Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown for a panel discussion and tour at The Navy Yard.

“Philadelphia Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week 2015 provides the City with a unique opportunity to showcase the advances made by our minority business community and to connect these growing businesses with major private and non-profit institutions seeking their products and services”, said Angela Dowd-Burton, Executive Director of Office of Economic Opportunity. The week concluded with an awards ceremony honoring minority business owners and supporters. Recipients included Andrew D. Magnus, Owner / President, BTC Envelopes & Printing, LLC, PIDC clientsLuis Torrado, CEO , Torrado Construction Company,andBlane Fitzgerald Stoddart, President and CEO, BFW Group LLC, Matthew Abraham, Founder and Principle Engineer, Westchester Environmental LLC, and Margaret Berger Bradley, Executive Director, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses. 

Marla S. Hamilton at the Philadelphia Airport Business Forum
Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown addressing attendees at The Navy Yard.
Over 100 entrepreneurs attended the panel discussion at The Navy Yard.
Mark Seltzer of Liberty Property Trust and Prema Gupta of PIDC discuss plans for The Navy Yard.

PIDC is very supportive of the growth of minority businesses in Philadelphia and continues to develop programs designed around their needs to help them achieve success.  The Contract Line of Credit, a PIDC Business Builder Loan, supports small minority, women and disabled owned businesses which need a line of credit to fund contract-related working capital.

Since 1983, the U.S. President has proclaimed a National MED (Minority Enterprise Development) Week observance to recognize the outstanding achievements of Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) and to honor those corporations and financial institutions that support minority business development. Annual regional conferences and activities are organized by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) in collaboration with the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Government Contracting and Business Development.

The MED Week celebration was started locally in Philadelphia in 1984 to honor and promote minority owned businesses in the Philadelphia area. The organizers of the first Med Week activities were Barbara Daniel Cox, former Director of Mayor Wilson Goode’s Women’s Commission and Bilal Abdul Qayyum, Assistant to the Deputy Director of the City Commerce Department. This event was a three day event with three workshops,concluding with an award luncheon honoring minority owned businesses. Each year since the first celebration, the MED Week Celebration has grown to a full week of successful workshops and award luncheons with an ever growing number of sponsors to promote the great accomplishments of minority owned businesses.

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