MBDA Agency

Today, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced the appointment of 25 members to the new National Advisory Council for Minority Business Enterprises.  The advisory council will be led by the Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and provide advice and recommendations to the department and the administration on a broad range of policy issues affecting the minority business community. 

The new council is the first to focus on promoting minority businesses since around 1969, when President Nixon established MBDA – formerly the Office of Minority Business Enterprise – and an advisory council to oversee and advise the new office.

The minority business community is an engine of economic growth and job creation. Today, there are approximately 5.8 million minority-owned firms generating $1 trillion annually and employing nearly 6 million workers. Yet, there continues to be challenges within the minority business community.  Of those 5.8 million firms, only 800,000 have more than one employee and the gap in average annual revenue between minority-owned and non-minority-owned firms is significant.

Don Chapman with the Minority Business Development Agency discusses the panel review process for MBDA Business Center grant applications.

MBDA National Director David Hinson, along with a 27-member delegation of U.S. corporate executives and minority-owned businesses, recently completed a China Business Opportunity Trade Mission to Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai. The goal of the trade mission was to meet with potential corporate, government and university partners and attend the Minority Supplier Development (MSD) China Summit and Business Opportunity Fair.

The trip was organized by the National Minority Supplier Diversity Council (NMSDC) to foster business relations between American corporate and minority-owned businesses, corporate members of MSD China, and Chinese ethnic minority businesses that are not a part of the Han Chinese majority in China and Taiwan.

On June 28, 2010 at 1pm EST, the Task Force on Federal Contracting Opportunities for Small Business will hold a public hearing at the auditorium at the Department of Commerce located at 1401 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20230.

To pre-register for the meeting, please email your name, organization or small business that you represent, along with the contact information to SB_TaskForce_Comment@sba.gov.  You should also include the topics you are interested in discussing (see below). Those interested in attending should register by June 21, 2010 due to security and limited seating.  Please put “registration” in the subject line of the email.