Minority Business Enterprise (MBE)
The State of Ohio’s Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) Program is designed to assist minority businesses in obtaining state government contracts through a set-aside procurement program for goods and services. The State of Ohio developed the program because it is committed to making all state contracts, services, benefits, and opportunities available without discriminating based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, or ancestry. MBE establishes a 15 percent goal for state agencies, boards, and commissions to award certified MBE business contracts. To be certified as an MBE, the business must be in business for at least one year before applying for certification, and the owner(s) must be members of one or more of the following groups: Blacks, American Indians, Hispanics, and Asians. Link:
Encouraging Diversity, Growth, & Equity (EDGE)
The State of Ohio recognizes the need to encourage, nurture and support the growth of economically and socially underutilized businesses to foster their development. The EDGE Program provides an “EDGE” to small businesses by Encouraging Diversity, Growth, and Equity in public contracting. EDGE is an assistance program for economically and socially disadvantaged business enterprises. EDGE establishes goals for state agencies, boards, and commissions in awarding contracts to certified EDGE-eligible businesses. An EDGE participant must be a business enterprise located in a qualified census tract, or the business may qualify if the owner meets the established program criteria for socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.
Women Business Enterprise Program (WBE)
The state of Ohio’s Women-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE) program is designed to assist women-owned businesses in obtaining contracts for goods and services, construction, architecture, engineering, information technology, and professional services. The WBE program does not apply a procurement goal or set-aside target for state government contracts. The state of Ohio developed the program because it recognized the need to encourage, nurture, and support the growth of women-owned businesses to foster their development and increase the number of qualified competitors in the marketplace.
Veteran-Friendly Business Enterprise Procurement Program (VFBE)
The state of Ohio's Veteran-Friendly Business Enterprise (VFBE) Procurement program provides preference or bonus points to certified companies that compete to contract with the state to supply the goods or services it needs, including eligible construction services.
