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Minority-Owned Firms More Likely to Export (MBDA and BIS Team Up)


MBDA and BIS Team Up to Assist Minority Entrepreneurs With Export Rules of the Road

Washington, D.C. – The Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), both bureaus of the U.S. Department of Commerce, have teamed up to provide information to the more than 4.1 million minority business owners in the United States. Through both MBDA’s and BIS’s network of centers and online, the agencies plan to provide information about export control policies, regulations and procedures in order to help minority businesses grow globally.

A recent MBDA report, Characteristics of Minority Businesses and Entrepreneurs: An Analysis of the 2002 Survey of Business Owners, shows America’s competitiveness and economic growth in the global market will increasingly depend on the growth and expansion of minority-owned businesses. According to the report, minority-owned firms were twice as likely to export (2.5 percent of firms) compared to non-minority owned firms (1.2 percent of firms).

“The partnership that the Office of Export Enforcement (OEE) at the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) forges today with MBDA is an important development,” said Darryl W. Jackson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement. “Industry’s compliance with the export controls laws and regulations is the first and best defense in protecting our national security and prosperity. OEE conducts extensive outreach to industry to raise its awareness of the importance of compliance. Accordingly, OEE welcomes this partnership with MBDA, which will further these critical objectives.”

“As one of my final acts as National Director of MBDA, I am very pleased to forge this partnership with BIS. It is of critical importance that we encourage minority entrepreneurs to engage in the global economy and take advantage of Free Trade Agreements. It’s also important that we make sure minority business enterprises are aware of security and enforcement issues under the jurisdiction of BIS. Over the last seven years, MBDA has been able to develop many strategic partnerships with sister agencies at the Department of Commerce to increase the flow of information to minority entrepreneurs and help them grow their businesses and continue to impact the global economy,” said MBDA National Director Ronald N. Langston.

For more information about minority businesses or to find resources to grow your minority business enterprise, please visit www.mbda.gov or call 888-324-1551.

About the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA)

MBDA, www.mbda.gov , an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, serves minority entrepreneurs across America who are building and growing enterprises.  In doing so, minority-owned firms are better equipped to create jobs, impact local economies and compete successfully in domestic and global marketplaces.  With a nationwide network of more than 40 business centers and strategic partners, MBDA assists minority entrepreneurs and business owners with consulting services, contract and financing opportunities, bonding and certification services, building business-to-business alliances and executive training.