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Small Business  Agriculture

Frequently Asked Questions for Lenders: Eligible Businesses

• What businesses qualify?
• Which minority groups qualify?
• Can a business owned by a husband and wife qualify, if the husband is not a minority group member?

Other Lender Questions

General
Eligible Use of Loan Proceeds
Procedures

What businesses qualify? 

The business must meet these six criteria:

• At least 50% owned by a women or minority group member;
• Greater than 50% of the business is controlled by a women or minority group member;
• Employs 25 or fewer full time equivalent positions;
• Gross sales less than $500,000 per year;
• Is able to demonstrate a financial need for the subsidy; and
• Will create and/or retain jobs during the two-year timeframe of the LiDL Subsidy.

Which minority groups qualify? 

American Indian: a person who is enrolled as a member of a federally recognized American Indian tribe or band or who can document at least one-fourth American Indian ancestry or document tribal recognition as an American Indian.

Asian-Indian: a person whose ancestors originated in India, Pakistan or Bangladesh.

Asian-Pacific: a person of any race whose ancestors originated in Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Trust Territories of the Pacific or the Northern Marianas.

African American (Black): a person whose ancestors originated in any of the black racial groups of Africa.

Hispanic: a person of any race whose ancestors originated in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central America or South America or whose cultural origin is Spanish.

Native Hawaiians; Eskimos; and Aleuts: not defined.

Can a business owned by a husband and wife qualify, if the husband is not a minority group member? 

Yes, if the husband has full-time employment outside of this business and the wife is managing and running the day-to-day operations of the business. If both the husband and wife own and work at the business, and the husband is not a minority group member, the business is not considered women owned and controlled.