Obtaining $4.9 billion in contracts and financing for minority-owned businesses since 2000, Marie Gill has certainly been a force in small business development in South Florida and the Caribbean. Passionate about creating wealth in underserved communities by helping small and medium-sized firms grow to international competitiveness, Gill views her work as a calling.
Executive Director of M. Gill & Associates Inc, the Jamaican-born entrepreneur is a contractor for the US federal government. She works on behalf of minority and women-owned businesses to get technical assistance and funding earmarked for this sector through the US Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA).
Gill explained that the MBDA is charged by Congress to provide help to ethnic minority businesses. They establish centres all across the country, with some states having multiple centres. They require the centres to serve a certain number of minority businesses by providing technical assistance, help find financing, get certified as minority businesses so they can do business with the federal, state and, local government agencies. Centres like Gill’s also help these businesses write business plans and develop marketing strategies. The expected return on investment is minority businesses scaling up, creating jobs, and becoming viable enough to contribute to the economy.
“That’s my life, it’s my passion to help small businesses, and it all started back in the 1970s when Jamaicans were leaving the island for America in droves”, said Gill, seated in a comfortable armchair in her Miami office.
She had an epiphany back then, she added. “Maybe I can go to the US to help facilitate them. I had been to the US before and had an idea how to navigate in this new environment”.
But, how exactly did Gill get so involved in the minority business sector? Having lived in the US prior to the 70s for a few years, she noted that during the Jimmy Carter presidency some neighbourhoods, including the one in which she lived, received funding from the Carter administration for neighbourhood revitalisation. And as a result she learned the ins and outs of doing business with local government, how to secure various kinds of funding from banks, etc. She went along with neighbourhood activists to city commission meetings and other local gatherings and earned their respect. Gill went back to Jamaica, and on her return to the United States, she was armed with the knowledge she needed.
Good Attitude
But, like most immigrants to the US, she worked for others before starting her entrepreneurial venture. It seems fate led Gill to a job with the Minority Business Development Agency in Miami as a staff member. Her first task at the agency? Licking stamps for a big mailing campaign. But, as she declared, “I had a good attitude”.
Looking at the companies to whom the letters were addressed, Gill was determined to learn more about them and their importance to the MBDA. She stayed with the agency for eight years, building the foundation of her knowledge and eventual business. She has no regrets, for at the end of 1999 M. Gill & Associates Inc put in a bid with the US Department of Commerce to facilitate funding to SMEs, and won.
“So, as of 2000 I’ve been an operator. I got the contract and I kept bidding and winning and making my goals and exceeding my goals”.
In fact, Gill’s centre serves close to 300 clients per year, surpassing the federal minimum by about 80. The fact that her centre has facilitated almost $5 billion in contracts and funding for minority businesses throughout her 20 years in business is testament to her hard work and experience. And, she is quick to point out that these statistics are recorded and verifiable. Her renewed contract with the government will now include helping businesses who trade and export their goods and services to and from the Caribbean. Importantly, Gill’s strategic partnerships with companies such as EXIM Bank, US Commercial Service, and Enterprise Florida can play a part in the success of business connections to the region. And, as president of the Jamaica USA Chamber of Commerce, she is well poised to be an anchor for Caribbean owned businesses stateside.
A fixture in the South Florida Caribbean community, Gill works tirelessly in the business sector and it has not gone unnoticed. Last month she was recognised for her service and influential role in building successful businesses in the International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month 2020 celebrations. As well in March, she brought together powerful women in business at her 10th annual Women Mean Business International event who shared their expertise and success stories.
Gill’s life seems an endless whirlwind of business meetings and connections. However, she takes time to unwind. A longstanding member of the Jamaican Folk Revue cultural singing group, she performs with them at Jamaican and other Caribbean functions across South Florida.
“It’s my downtime, it’s my big cultural give back”.
