Esperanza Massana-Crane, the Little Rock marketing pro now nurturing entrepreneurship for the state, is ready to do some matchmaking.
As the Arkansas Economic Development Commission’s director of small business and entrepreneurship development, she’s putting together procurement managers and minority businesses May 29 at the Clinton Presidential Center.
“It is literally a speed dating event for business owners,” Massana-Crane said, though it’s formally known as the Minority & Women-Owned Business Enterprise 2024 Matchmaking Event.
“Say I have a marketing agency and I do public relations and I’m certified as a minority or women-owned business, and say Central Arkansas Water is one of the buyers, the event will pair us up,” Massana-Crane said, growing enthusiastic. “They will literally sit across a table from each other and have an opportunity to network.”
A Harding University MBA grad, Massana-Crane joined AEDC in 2013 after seven years as an account executive at the CJRW agency in Little Rock. After becoming AEDC marketing director in 2016, she was named director of minority and women-owned business enterprise in 2021 and promoted to her current role last August.
“Last year we had an email from Tyson Foods that said they were happy to award a contract to a minority vendor that they met at the matchmaking event two years ago,” Massana-Crane said. “The beauty is that even if you don’t get a contract right away, the concept of relationships, relationships, relationships means that if you show up, it could pay off for you later.
“This year our keynote speaker is Eric Nelson with Nelson Intelligence Solutions,” she continued. “I think he has about 35 employees, and they renovated this now-great building downtown [at 1000 W. Third St.] and it’s a minority- and service-disabled veteran-owned business.”
Massana-Crane explained her agency’s certification process for businesses owned by ethnic minorities, women and service-disabled veterans. Businesses apply online and AEDC staff scrutinize the applications, verifying tax records and confirming at least 51% ownership by women, minorities or disabled veterans.
Beyond giving the businesses visibility on AEDC’s website and business list, certification allows the state to procure up to $40,000 worth of a minority vendor’s goods and services without taking bids. For non-certified businesses, the upper limit is $20,000.
Certification also gives businesses credibility with entities like the city of Little Rock, Clinton National Airport, Pulaski County “and even out-of-state companies looking for minority vendors when working on Arkansas projects.”
In February, Massana-Crane announced that the state had certified 50 businesses in 2023, up from 37 in 2022 and 33 in 2021. GWL Advertising of Little Rock was one of 17 newly certified women-owned businesses, along with names like Marlon Blackwell Architects of Fayetteville and restaurateur Trio’s Inc. of Little Rock. The 32 newly certified minority-owned businesses included Certified Pies and Cheesecake On Point in Little Rock, Q. Hathaway & Associates LLC of Sherwood and Ark-La-Miss Logistics Inc. of Maumelle.
“The MWBE certification provides a range of benefits for businesses that will set them apart in a competitive landscape, and we hope this will open the door for future opportunities for these companies,” Massana-Crane said.
“It’s important to know that there is a very strong collaboration among partners to see this growth in minority and women-owned businesses, and in small business and entrepreneurship. There’s a lot of collaboration from partners all over the state. And I think that’s a beautiful thing to see.”
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