SC business development agency responds to federal cuts

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – A recent executive order from President Donald Trump is eliminating six government departments some experts say will affect businesses in South Carolina.

The Trump administration is eliminating departments and staff at the federal level citing a need to reduce the size, scope and spending of the federal government. The six departments Trump’s order targeted were ones he calls “unnecessary,” including the Minority Business Development Agency, which President Richard Nixon started.

Diane Sumpter is the president and CEO of DESA Inc., which operates the South Carolina Minority Business Development Agency Business Center based in Columbia. The SCMBDA is partially funded by the Minority Business Development Agency, to offer contracting opportunities, workforce development, consulting and tech support to entrepreneurs and businesses in the Palmetto State.

The group was able to double its goal and reach 6,216 customers, in part because of $420,000 in federal funding it received, according to the SCMBDA Business Center’s 2023-2024 annual report.

Sumpter says the SCMBDA has already exceeded its required metrics in order to get federal funding at least through June 30 of this year.

“Because it was a five-year [funding commitment], there’s an ability of theirs to exercise the last year option that would begin July 1 and go to June 30, 2026.,” Sumpter says. “We’re hopeful that they will at least continue that. But be that as it may, I’m confident that this state has seen the value. And because they’ve seen the value, there will be other ways to do things.”

But now with the order cutting the MBDA, what comes next as part of the multi-year agreement is still unclear.

“Even though we have some $30 million businesses, et cetera, but they rely on us to do certain different things. I think if it does not happen, those businesses probably will survive, but that is a much less level and therefore it requires laying off more people, therefore it would require less taxes coming into the state,” Sumpter says.

She also points out that the agency works with Asian and women-owned businesses.

“So it’s much more than just African American,” she says. “We’re just hoping that the federal government continues to realize this is not a DEI issue. This is a build-a-state issue. This is an issue where we’re creating jobs. This is an issue where we’re helping businesses get opportunities and through our assistance, it allows our state to be stronger and stronger.”

Along with the Minority Business Development Agency being cut, this particular executive order also eliminates the following departments:

The United States Agency for Global Media
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institute
The Institute of Museum and Library Services
The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness
The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund

Supporters of the decision say the move will reduce federal government spending.

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