Book excerpt: Today, as the nation's population is becoming more and more diverse, it is imperative for students to learn how to effectively grow businesses that serve a variety of customers, are owned by people from a broad range of backgrounds, and are inclusive in their employment practices. Multicultural Marketing and Business Consulting has been developed over a 15-year period to guide learning as students complete complex projects with a variety of small businesses, with an emphasis on solving marketing and management problems in culturally diverse and rapidly changing business environments. In project-based courses, students also learn valuable consulting and business assistance skills. The book provides strategies, techniques, and tools for meeting the unique challenges faced by entrepreneurs who are Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander, African American, and from other culturally diverse and underrepresented groups. Thaddeus Spratlen is professor emeritus of marketing at the University of Washington and a leading expert on multicultural marketing and business assistance for urban enterprises. Leslie Lum has worked for a Fortune 100 company, a global bank, and as manager of a retail start-up. Detra Y. Montoya is clinical associate professor in the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. Michael Verchot is the founding director of the Business and Economic Development Center at the University of Washington Foster School of Business.