Habiba Laidi says MENA firms are lumped in with white-owned businesses
Habiba Laidi of Malika says MENA-owned businesses are entirely excluded from minority-owned recognition under the MWBE program. She says the city's disparity study failed to separately identify MENA firms, masking barriers and creating a false sense of equity.
Good afternoon.
My name is Habiba Laidi.
I'm representing Malika.
The city's MWB program is designed to expand opportunities for historically underrepresented businesses to complete for city contracts and access critical business development resources.
Yet right now, Middle Eastern and North African-owned businesses are entirely excluded from being recognized as minority-owned businesses under this program.
This is not an administrative oversight.
It is a profound data failure with economic consequences.
The New York City's most recent disparity study failed to separately identify men-owned businesses, meaning that the city lacks the baseline data necessary to measure their availability, utilization, experience, and discrimination.
Experiences of discrimination.
Instead, the MENA firms are often lumped in with white-owned businesses, benchmarks, and masking systematic barriers and creating a false sense of equity.
Across our neighborhoods, inclusion along vibrant commercial corridors like Steinway Street in Astoria, where I'm from, MENA entrepreneurs operate
grocery stores, restaurants, pharmacies, retail stores that serve as the heartbeat of our local economy.
Many of these immigrant-owned businesses navigate severe linguistic and cultural barriers, making specialized technical assistance and municipal contracting opportunities
through the MWBE program critically necessary for their survival and expansion.
Without these recognitions, our businesses remain invisible and locked out of these tools needed to scale and thrive.
We are lacking behind other levels of government.
In 2024, the federal government established MENA as a distinct race and ethnicity category, and the New York State subsequently enacted Executive Law 178, which requires
state agencies to collect and report data on MENA populations separately.
New York City must align with these crucial progresses that this federal and state government have made.
I strongly urge the council to pass Intro 280.
Thank you for your time.