The Allegheny County Department of Minority, Women and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (Department of M/W/DBE), in partnership with the Allegheny County Department of Economic Development (DCED), has established a pilot Small Business Development & Technical Assistance Program.  The objectives of this pilot program are two fold:  to have a measurable impact on the success of small businesses; and to enable these businesses to become self sustaining.

The Allegheny County Department of M/W/DBE recognizes that, historically, small, minority and women owned firms within this region have had limited access to the financial resources necessary to sustain a viable business enterprise.  Frequently cited causes include lack of collateral and sound financial statements to secure much needed financing and bonding.  This problem is not unique solely to our region but to the entire universe of small, minority and women owned businesses across the country.

Thus, the Allegheny County Department of M/W/DBE has therefore established a pilot program that is holistic in nature and which integrates existing technical assistance resources that are available within our region.  

In order to achieve the objectives of growing minority and women owned contracting firms, and maximizing their contributions to the regional economy, the Department of M/W/DBE has contracted the services of Exico, Inc. to be their Program Manager for the Working Capital Loan Program. Exico, Inc. has solid linkages with the region’s small M/W/DBE community as well as a working relationship with community resources that will be tapped in order to properly leverage the resources of the Department's Working Capital Loan Program. 

Exico is a stalwart in the local, regional and statewide small business community.  We are unswerving in our focus on the development and promotion of opportunities for small, minority and women owned businesses in our region for the past thirty three years.  Exico also has a track record of working closely with local community resources in executing programs that are targeted at our region’s small, M/W/DBE community. We have assembled an impressive team to assist the Department of M/W/DBE in establishing and operating this pilot program.  In addition, we are a small, private sector, minority owned, disadvantaged business enterprise ourselves.  This enables us to not only have the sensitivity to the issues being addressed, but also gives us the desire to succeed in this endeavor because, as a small firm operating in the private sector without the security and comfort of outside support, success is our only option. 

We invite you to submit an application in order to be considered for participation in this exciting endeavor.