Women & Minority Entrepreneurs Inspiration and advice to help women and minorities face the challenges of business ownership.

Recent events ranging from Supreme Court decisions onaffirmative action programs to the outcome of the O.J. Simpsontrial have left issues of race, gender and fairness oneveryone's minds. In the words of one entrepreneur we spoke to,"You want to believe you're going to get a fair shakeevery time, but that's just not true." What is true,unfortunately, is that women and minority entrepreneurs sill facedistinct challenges in starting, running and growing theirbusinesses. But the news is not all bad-far from it. More women andminorities than ever before are turning to entrepreneurship as away to take charge of their destinies-and more area succeeding atsmall-business ownership. To celebrate that success, as well as tooffer help in overcoming the hurdles, we at Entrepreneurpresent this special report.

New Directions

We are a diverse country, and to not use that [diversity] iscrazy." So says Joan Parrott-Fonseca, director of the MinorityBusiness Development Agency (MBDA).