Strategic Partnerships and New Markets

India is a story of growth and opportunity. India’s sustained growth of around 8.0% in 2009-10 and growing dynamism in several of its regional markets have created wide and diverse business prospects for U.S. exporters and investors. With 2011 growth estimates hovering at around 8.6%, India remains one of the fastest growing, dynamic economies in the world.

The current economic downturn has not affected India to the same extent as the United States, though most Indian companies remain apprehensive and are extremely cautious with large expenditures. Worldwide economic difficulties notwithstanding, U.S. multinationals are sold on India and are expanding and deepening their market penetration. U.S. firms with advanced and niche-market products and services are entering the market for the first time, or are replacing legacy distributors appointed in the slow-growth past with more capable and aggressive representatives.

Many smaller American firms have begun to view India as a top anchor market for their products and services as well. The marked rise of U.S. exports to India, the daily business press announcements, the rapidly expanding demand for Commercial Service India matchmaking programs and due diligence services, and the many business development trade missions visiting India all point to India being open for business.

The Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Business Center in Alabama announced a strategic partnership with the International Sustainability Institute of Applied Sciences, a division of ACF Enterprises LLC, to pilot a blueprint for small business sustainable development in South Mobile County.  

To ensure inclusion and capacity-building of minority business enterprises (MBEs) in the emerging green economy, staff at the Business Center, which is working collaboratively with the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation, received comprehensive training from the International Sustainability Institute of Applied Sciences to become Certified Sustainability Consultants. The intent of the strategic partnership is to pilot a “blended” training program that leverages technology with consulting to move central Gulf companies along a continuum of continuous improvements in sustainability performance.

According to Pamela Ramos, the Business Center’s Program Director, “Training and consulting will play an important role in transitioning south Mobile County businesses to sustainable operations in 2012.  This is a way to add value and competitive advantage to a minority business enterprise classification.”

In support of the President’s call to increase collaboration among federal agencies and with private and public sector entities, there has been an abundance of interagency initiatives geared to increase job creation and entrepreneurship. Among these, MBDA has partnered with other federal agencies in support of the Job and Innovation Accelerator, Strong Cities, Strong Communities and Start-Up America.

As a federal partner, MBDA is providing technical support to grantees of the Job Accelerator to identify and match minority businesses with potential procurement opportunities resulting from the 20 regional innovation clusters.  Moreover, we are excited that three MBDA Business Center operators won grants to implement the Job Accelerator projects.  MBDA also has boots on the ground in New Orleans and Fresno, California to support economic development, business formation and expansion in those cities as part of the Strong Cities, Strong Communities initiative. In addition, MBDA continues to participate in the Start-Up America initiative to support business formation and innovation.

As many of you may know, last year the President signed into law The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, commonly known as the Dodd-Frank Act, to promote the financial stability of America and to protect consumers from abusive financial service practices, among other purposes.  In particular, the law brought many changes to increase transparency and accountability in the financial industry, strengthen consumer protection against unfair lending practices, and to promote greater inclusion of minorities and women in the employment and procurement of federal financial regulatory agencies.  The law established the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Offices of Minority and Women Inclusion at the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, among other federal financial regulatory agencies.

Greetings!

As we embark on a new fiscal year, I’d like to begin by thanking all of you who helped make our Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week Conference such a huge success. We had over 800 people in attendance learning about the best strategies to pursue government contracting opportunities, take advantage of new industries, and cultivate strategic partnerships to grow.  Please visit the MED Week website to view the photos and remarks from some of our most notable speakers like HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebilius, Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank, Treasury Assistant Secretary for Management Dan Tangherlini and others.

MBDA was busy building relationships as well. We signed three distinct Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) designed to foster minority business growth and development with Tremco, Inc., IBM, and the Republic of Turkey’s Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization.