Crossposted from MBDA.gov.

Newly appointed Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker visited Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) employees during their staff meeting Monday.

During the visit, Secretary Pritzker talked to MBDA staff about her commitment to supporting the Agency’s mission of helping minority-owned businesses grow and create American jobs.

The secretary, who was familiar with MBDA’s work prior to joining Commerce, commended the agency on their recent annual performance report, and told employees that she looks forward to working with them to further the department’s mission.

During her recent address to the Commerce workforce, Secretary Pritzker emphasized she would work every day – 24/7 – to ensure that everyone in Washington, DC, across the country and around the world knows the great work agencies and employees are doing.

MBDA National Director David Hinson, speaking on behalf of the MBDA team, said that he was thrilled the secretary took time to visit the agency’s employees so early in her tenure, adding that the visit is an example of her commitment to employees, businesses and the nation’s economy.

MBDA is the only federal agency solely dedicated to the growth and global competitiveness of U.S. minority-owned businesses. Our programs and services equip minority-owned firms to create jobs, build scale and capacity, increase revenues and expand regionally, nationally and internationally. Services are provided through a nationwide network of MBDA Business Centers, as well as through MBDA headquarters and a National Federal Procurement Center in Washington, DC.

The Department of Commerce's Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) National Director David Hinson wrapped up a five-day trip to Brasilia and São Paulo, Brazil, on August 24. 

The trip provided an opportunity for Commerce’s MBDA to help push forward on the Obama administration’s National Export Initiative (NEI) by fostering greater access to emerging markets in Brazil for minority business enterprises. Helping the administration achieve its NEI goal of doubling exports by the end of 2014 is a top priority for MBDA, because more exports mean more jobs. Through the NEI, MBDA is thinking strategically about the sectors and markets that give America’s minority businesses a comparative advantage globally. Brazil is one of those key markets.

During the trip, Director Hinson met with Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Relations and Brazilian business owners to discuss how MBDA can help U.S. minority-owned businesses enterprises (MBEs) improve their return on investment through strategic partnerships and gain access to the unprecedented opportunities in the United States and Brazil—the two largest economies in the Western Hemisphere.

Guest blog post by David A. Hinson, National Director, Minority Business Development Agency
 
Supporting the growth and global competitiveness of minority-owned businesses is a priority for the Department of Commerce and the Obama administration.

And we’re making good on that priority. Last year, the Department’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) registered the best annual performance in its 41-year history. It assisted minority-owned businesses in gaining access to nearly $4 billion in contracts and capital, supporting the creation of nearly 6,000 much-needed jobs. Over the last three years, our network of 39 MBDA Business Centers, has been largely responsible for generating $10 billion in contracts and capital while helping to create and save nearly 20,000 jobs.

Today, the challenge for MBDA–like so many organizations across the federal government–is to figure out how we build on that record while becoming more efficient.  A number of bureaus right here within the Commerce Department are facing a similar challenge, which has led, for example, to consolidating or otherwise cutting several programs in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), restructuring some units within International Trade Administration (ITA) and shifting the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) emphasis to regional innovation strategies. So how do we at MBDA meet the President’s mandate to improve services to minority-owned businesses and entrepreneurs in an increasingly difficult budget environment?

The answer for our Bureau started with looking at the grassroots where MBDA interacts on a daily basis with minority business owners. Our front lines are our 39 MBDA Business Centers and related business development support services. Our plan is to strengthen connections at that level to enhance services and get more for your tax dollar.

Today the Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) presented a grant to SoCal Corporate Growth Partners for $1.775 million to operate a new MBDA Business Center in Riverside, California. 

MBDA National Director David Hinson was joined by Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge and Daniel Sieu, CEO & President of SoCal Corporate Growth Partners to celebrate the opening of the new Riverside MBDA Business Center, which will be operated over five years. 

This Business Center is a part of a network of 45 centers that operate nationally under the auspices of MBDA designed to help minority-owned firms secure capital for new equipment and facilities; compete for public and private sector contracts; and prepare for exporting opportunities.  The Centers also provide strategic advice on supplier diversity programs to help make buyers more effective and efficient in meeting their goals.

The most recently opened business centers were in Boston, MA, Minneapolis, MN and Manhattan, NY. 

Cleveland is the home of the U.S. Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency’s (MBDA) newest business center. On Thursday, Sept. 1, more than 250 people turned out for the Cleveland MBDA Business Center’s grand opening and press conference held at the Wyndham Hotel.

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, (D-Ohio) delivered remarks; and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson presented a proclamation recognizing the center’s role in the city.

MBDA National Director David Hinson delivered remarks to the crowd, challenging business owners to take advantage of the new opportunities that will be available through the business center in creating access to capital, contracts and markets.

The $1,125,000 five-year federal grant check was presented to center operator Andrew Jackson, Senior V. P. and Executive Director of the Commission on Economic Inclusion, Greater Cleveland Partnership.

Following the open house and tour of the center, a select group of minority business owners and key economic development stakeholders were invited to a White House Business Roundtable, where business owners shared in a candid conversation about their issues and concerns.

Director Hinson challenged business owners to consider what their companies specifically need to create “one more job.”  

MBDA Business Centers assist minority entrepreneurs with strategic business consulting services. Centers work directly with minority business owners and managers at the local level and provide enhanced assistance through MBDA’s national strategic partners, both within the federal government and the private sector.  

The Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) National Director David A. Hinson traveled to London this week to discuss mergers and acquisitions as a global growth strategy for middle-market minority businesses. At the Third Global Merger & Acquisition Symposium: The New Economics for the Private Middle Market, Hinson explained that minority-owned businesses offer international investors above average return prospects and a powerful market entry vehicle into the United States and other countries.

“Within every market there are hidden and often undervalued opportunities that support both market entry and the potential for outsized profit,” Hinson said. “One of these hidden opportunities within the United States is called the minority business community.”

The U.S. minority business community represents $1 trillion of U.S. economic output, and if measured against the size of countries around the world, it would be the 17^th richest nation. The minority business sector has also shown the greatest growth dynamics in the U.S. economy in terms of gross receipts, growing at 56 percent based on the latest Census Bureau data.

Now totaling 5.8 million, minority-owned companies in the United States have over $2.46 trillion in total annual purchasing power.

“Partnering with a U.S. minority-owned firm and leveraging not just the firm’s U.S. market presence but the “Made in America” brand can be a winning proposition for a new entrant to a foreign market.”