It must first meet certain size requirements, see 13 C.F.R. Part 21, and it must also be “disadvantaged,” which requires that at least fifty one percent of the business is owned and controlled by one or more individuals who are socially and economically disadvantaged. See 15 U.S.C. § 637(a)(4)(A)-(B); 13 C.F.R. § 124.105. The program defines socially “disadvantaged individuals” as those who have been “subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias within American society because of their identities as members of groups and without regard to their individual qualities.” 13 C.F.R. § 124.103(a); see also 15 U.S.C. § 637(a)(5). “Economically disadvantaged” individuals are those socially disadvantaged individuals “whose ability to compete in the free enterprise system has been impaired due to diminished capital and credit opportunities as compared to others in the same or similar line of business who are not socially disadvantaged.”

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