Since the 1970s, many minority business owners have been able to certify their businesses through organizations like the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) or the Small Business Administration (SBA). Until last July, one group of business owners was noticeably absent from the sea of certification options – those of heritage. Recognition as a minority business has its advantages.
In the consumer goods sector, certified businesses let customers know who is making their simmer sauces or importing their coffee beans. But more crucially, especially for scrappy emerging brands, certifications can reduce the cost of doing business through diversity programs found in supermarkets and chains like or . Some Mena businesspeople say they feel the lack of recognition.
“I tried to apply to some of the more established ‘minority certifying agencies’ and they told me that I was out of luck,” says Alexander Harik, the co-founder, along his mom, Lorraine George-Harik, of , a pita chip company based in Brooklyn, New York. Although Harik was born in the US, his lineage is 100% Lebanese, yet he recounts being told: “You’re Caucasian. We don’t recognize that as a minority.
” Harik notes that he doesn’t feel white. “I’ve had people say very racist and discriminatory things towards me,” he says. “Our experience is definitely different,” he says of fellow Mena business owners, compared with white or Caucasian business owners who might be of European he.