By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that they are awarding the Maryland Technology Development (TEDCO), an instrument of the state, $10 million to support small businesses.
With the funding, Maryland will create the Business Resource Information, Development and Guidance Ecosystem (BRIDGE) program. BRIDGE will provide specialized accounting, financial and legal advisory services to small businesses throughout the region.
During a Sept. 9 press call, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) acknowledged that it can be “difficult to become a successful entrepreneur.”
“When you start out, there are often more questions than answers,” said Moore. “How do you scale up a business model? How do you access the legal services that you need?”
He went on to emphasize that this initiative would help tackle those questions.
“It’s going to help us to create pathways for work, wages and wealth,” said Moore.
According to a 2023 Maryland small business profile by the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, there are 639,789 small businesses in the state. Around 99 percent of Maryland businesses are small.
TEDCO plans to work with the University of Maryland to help the state develop and implement the new program. Both have already pledged to match almost $2.2 million to help support the initiative.
Troy LeMaile-Stovall, TEDCO’s chief executive officer, emphasized how the BRIDGE program will help entrepreneurs throughout the region.
“It will give them back a minute. It will give them access to talent that they need to grow and scale their enterprises,” said LeMaile-Stovall. “The whole TEDCO team and this ecosystem is excited about this opportunity to put these resources to work, to help make this region the economic powerhouse it can and should be.”
Though Maryland will lead BRIDGE, it will be done in partnership with Delaware, Virginia and Washington D.C.
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