Helping Minority-Owned Businesses Expand Globally

It has been 25 years since then-President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the very first Minority Enterprise Development Week, or MED Week. Since then, every president has issued a proclamation designating a week for minority business owners to gather, speak with government officials, be honored for their achievements, and share ideas and innovations with each other.

At the time, minority-owned small businesses were among the fastest growing sectors in the American economy, despite the significant challenges they faced, including gaining access to capital and federal contracting opportunities.

This year's MED Week conference, the largest federally sponsored event held for minority businesses each year, is being held Sept. 3-5 in Washington, D.C. at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. The event is co-hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Minority Business Development Agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. To learn more information about the details for the event, visit www.medweek.gov.

This year's focus is on helping minority-owned businesses turn today's economic challenges into opportunities through partnerships with enterprises domestically and overseas. The theme, The Power of Strategic Alliances and the Global Economy, is timely because of the opportunities international commerce offer businesses to form alliances, pool resources, tap into new markets, share financial risks and increase business capacity.

When minority businesses join forces with entities in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, they gain access to a larger pool of human resources and raw materials and expose their companies to new export markets.

Med Week provides a critical opportunity for the public and private sectors to have a continuing dialogue about the strength of the economy and the vital role of minority entrepreneurs and their firms play in keeping the country competitive. MED Week also offers minority entrepreneurs and business owners an opportunity to showcase their strengths and to network with some of the nation's foremost business strategists, investors, contracting officers and policy makers.

In the last 25 years, the number of minority-owned businesses in this country has nearly tripled. With more than 4 million minority firms creating jobs and opportunity, 4.7 million employees and $661 billion in annual revenues, minority-owned businesses are still in 2008 among the fastest growing business sectors. Following the discussion of this year's event if you can't attend will help.