Blogs

Minority-owned businesses are the fastest growing business sector in the Nation, in terms of gross receipts and paid employees.[1] Yet, access to capital remains the biggest obstacle limiting their establishment, expansion and growth. While traditional funding remains the most sought after source of capital, alternative funding sources, such as angel investors, have proven successful for minority entrepreneurs.

Minorities represent on average less than 7% of all entrepreneurs seeking funding from angel investors. However, they succeed in acquiring angel funding as often as their non-minority counterparts. From January 2009 to June 2012, 17% of all entrepreneurs seeking angel investor funding succeeded. The yield rate for minority entrepreneurs during that same period was 16.1%, a negligible difference. The yield rate is the percentage of investment opportunities that are brought to the attention of investors that result in an investment.

MBDA’s National Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week has by tradition set the standard as the premier event for minority entrepreneurs, business owners, and advocates. On December 5-6, the 30^th anniversary milestone event officially joined the ranks as one of the most successful MED Week’s in the history of the conference.

This year’s event was attended by nearly 1,300 individuals representing a broad range of industries from across the globe. In the State of Commerce Address, Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank opened the conference with inspirational remarks on the growth of the economy and highlighted the crucial role that minority-owned businesses play in exporting and job creation. Acting Secretary Blank’s address embodied the theme of this year’s conference, Job Creation in America: Build it Here – Sell it Everywhere!, and set the tone for the conference agenda, which included an International Business-to-Business Linkage networking reception attended by the Brazilian Ambassador to the United States, a partnership announcement between MBDA and the Export-Import Bank that launched the “Global Outreach Alliance,” and numerous seminars and workshops focused on the global supply chain and emerging markets.

As we approach the winter holidays, we pause to thank you for your continued partnership. It is business associates like you that bring a rich mosaic of experiences, attitudes and views that continue to advance MBDA’s mission to create jobs and foster the growth and global competitiveness of minority-owned firms.

It’s been an extremely productive year at MBDA and we are excited to share some of our many achievements from this past year.  We’ve completed a major organizational restructuring that enabled us to increase funding to MBDA Business Centers.  We also launched several “specialty” MBDA Business Centers including: the Atlanta MBDA Business Center, which is now staffed to provide expert guidance for minority-owned businesses in the healthcare technology and advanced manufacturing industry sectors; the San Antonio MBDA Business Center that has expanded their services to include expertise in exporting to Latin America; and the MBDA Federal Procurement Center, the first MBDA Business Center to solely focus on federal contracting.;

The Minority Business Development Agency pays tribute to the rich ancestry and traditions of Native Americans as we approach the final days of Native American Heritage Month.  According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, “What started at the turn of the century as an effort to gain a day of recognition for the significant contributions the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of the U.S., has resulted in a whole month being designated for that purpose.”

For decades, MBDA has supported expanded trade through minority-owned and operated businesses recognizing that minority-owned firms have the most favorable export attributes of any sector of the U.S. economy. In 2011 MBDA began the formal process of institutionalizing efforts to aid minority-owned businesses globally. With President Obama’s launch of the National Export Initiative, the focus on minority exporters and their ability to support domestic job growth has taken on added importance.