About NAIC

Founded in 1971, the National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC) is the financial industry association for private equity firms that invest in an ethnically diverse marketplace. NAIC member companies invest in privately held businesses that have a high probability of growth and the ability to generate significant returns for investors and shareholders.

Since NAIC’s inception, its member firms have invested in well over 20,000 ethnically diverse businesses. Utilizing its collective expertise, NAIC has helped to create a marketplace full of opportunities for growth, success, new jobs and an expanded tax base.

Today, NAIC member firms manage more than $10 billion in capital. NAIC members cover the full spectrum of private equity investment activity, including early stage venture, later stage venture, expansion, buyout, mezzanine, distressed and secondary fund investments.

NAIC hosts several educational forums and professional conferences designed to give members, institutional investors and other stakeholders an opportunity to expand their knowledge, build relationships and exchange information about private equity best practices and industry trends. NAIC events are particularly focused on investment strategies and trends in the US Emerging Domestic Market (EDM).

In addition, NAIC shapes public policy and regulatory change, provides its members with information on industry developments, and sponsors research to assess the impact of investment activity in the EDM.

History

NAIC began as an association for Minority Enterprise Small Business Investment Companies, formed after President Richard M. Nixon helped to create the Minority Enterprise Small Business Investment Company (MESBIC) program in 1969. On December 3, 1971, the association held its founding convention at the Marriott Motor Inn, Dallas, Texas, under the leadership of Alphonso Whitfield, then president of Progress Venture Capital Corporation.

In 1972, the US Congress clarified the purpose of the SBIC (MESBIC) program as “to improve and stimulate the national economy in general, and the socially and economically disadvantaged business segment thereof in particular, by establishing a program to stimulate and supplement the flow of private-equity capital and long-term loan funds which minority small business concerns need for the sound financing of their business operations and for their growth, expansion, and modernization, and which are not available in adequate supply.”

In its early years, the association focused on working with the US Small Business Administration’s Small Business Investment Companies (SBIC) program. The association frequently served as an advocate on behalf of its licensed Specialized Small Business Investment Companies (SSBIC) members.

In the early 1990s, NAIC members began to increase the amounts of capital raised from public and private pension funds and to broaden sources of institutional investment. This reduced member firm reliance on the SBIC program. In 1992, NAIC supported the development of Fairview Capital, a pioneering private equity fund-of-funds investment firm, to help increase the amount of capital focused on investment in minority-owned enterprises. Four years later, the US Congress terminated the SSBIC program, grandfathering all existing licenses.

In 2002, the association initiated development of an affiliate organization known as The Marathon Club. The Marathon Club was focused on increasing the availability and investment of private equity capital into high-potential enterprises with minority ownership and management opportunities. The Marathon Club provides education, professional development and networking opportunities to motivated individuals; it is designed to increase the supply of high quality deals and the number of institutional deal financings within the US Emerging Domestic Market (EDM). Additionally, The Marathon Club works with other organizations to develop research and public policies that will increase the success of minority business enterprises.

In 2005, NAIC launched the inaugural issue of the Journal of EDM Finance. The Journal of EDM Finance is published twice yearly and is the nation’s only magazine dedicated entirely to editorial coverage of private equity activities in the EDM.

Also in 2005, NAIC formed a partnership with RG & Associates to co-host the Plan Sponsor & Minority Manager Consortium. Each year, the Plan Sponsor & Minority Manager Consortium convenes institutional investors and minority owned investment firms to build relationships, share best practices and discuss how capital can be invested with minority investment managers.

To learn more about NAIC, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.