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Big Bend Encourages Minority, Women Entrepreneurs

About 200 women and minority owned businesses are participating in this year’s Minority Enterprise Development Week, also known as “MED Week.”

MED Week is sponsored by the state Office of Supplier Diversity and Tallahassee and Leon County’s Office of Economic Vitality.

James Maduro Jr., owner of Progressive Business Enterprise, wants to help fellow disabled veterans find housing. So he got some tips on navigating the system in a grant-writing workshop at the Turnbull Center.

“Oh, yes. It’s so much red tape.  It’s good because you want to make sure the taxpayers are getting their money’s worth. That’s definitely important. But also, the red tape makes it very difficult for the average citizen to go out there and make it work.”

OSD executive director Hue Reynolds says the networking opportunities are important because small businesses can become bigger players by teaming up to compete for large contracts.  

A Miami native, former WFSU reporter Jim Ash is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years of experience, most of it in print. He has been a member of the Florida Capital Press Corps since 1992.