Strategic Partnerships and New Markets

You don’t need a boat to go where most small businesses export. China’s economy may get a lot of our press, but our neighbors, Canada and Mexico, get a lot more of our exports. Total U.S. exports of goods to Canada and Mexico in 2009 were $154.8 billion and $116.4 billion, respectively, while exports to China were $65.6 billion.

The International Trade Administration’s recently released Small & Medium-Sized Exporting Companies: Statistical Overview, 2009 finds 275,843 exporters in 2009. Of this number, 269,269 or 97.6 percent were small businesses. But small businesses only accounted for 32.8 percent or $308 billion of the total export revenue in 2009.

For both small and large exporters, most of the exports came from the manufacturing and wholesale trade industries, which is not surprising considering the data does not cover services exports. These two industries combined represented about 85 percent of exporting value and 60 percent of the exporting businesses.

Ford Motor Company announced recently that it had exceeded its supplier diversity sourcing goal, purchasing $4.1 billion in goods and services from minority-and women-owned companies.

The success of Ford’s supplier diversity efforts illustrates how valuable minority-owned business enterprises are to our country’s top companies and our economy overall. From heavy equipment to financial services, no matter what the demands of your supply chain are, there’s a minority-owned firm that can fulfill them.   In fact, the number of high-quality minority-owned businesses spread across every sector of the economy totals 5.8 million.

To better assist corporate America in locating minority business enterprises with scale and capacity, supplier diversity executives should put the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), a bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce, on speed dial.  MBDA can help you find these firms and put you in contact with them so you can establish the kinds of profitable partnerships that more and more Fortune 500 companies are seeking out. In 2010, with the help of the MBDA network of business centers, MBDA helped the private sector secure more than $850 million in products and services from minority firms. 

In honor of Women’s History Month and in recognition of the new statistics on firms owned by American Indians and Alaskan Natives, this edition of MBDA’s newsletter features an inspiring storing about Sister Sky—a firm owned and operated by two sisters from the Spokane tribe in Eastern Washington.  As I travel around the country, I am in awe of the innovation, tenacity, and the indomitable spirit of minority business owners and their unwillingness to quit in the face of overwhelming odds. That’s the spirit that makes America great.

With the release the 2007 Survey of Business Owners data by the Census Bureau and MBDA’s American Indian and Alaskan Native Business Fact Sheet, we have evidence that there was growth in the number of American Indian and Alaskan Native-owned firms since 2002.  Yet, job creation by these firms has not materialized and the average gross receipts of American Indian and Alaskan Native-owned firms ($145,000) are significantly below average compared to non-minority firms ($490,000). 

Still, of the 237,000 American Indian and Alaskan Native-owned firms that generate more than $34.0 billion in gross receipts, there are more than 4,600 that produce $1.0 million dollars or more in revenue.  These firms combined generated gross receipts of $23 billion and employed 116,759 workers.  Clearly, there is an upside to building your firm to size, scale and capacity.  Sister Sky, along with their commitment to creating jobs on the Spokane reservation, and with the support of MBDA and other federal partners, is headed in the right direction.