Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Issue Forum:International Opportunities for Minority Businesses Expansion through Trade in the Western Hemisphere

Good afternoon,
I would like to thank Timothy Mitchell, President of the Jamaica Business Resource Center, and Leslie Schweitzer, Senior Trade Advisor at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, not only for the warm words of welcome, but also for the collaborative spirit with which they went about helping putting this event together.
I also want to congratulate the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation for hosting in partnership with the TradeRoots Program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Jamaica Business Resource Center, the Consumer Electronics Association, Liberty Mutual, and the Oracle Corporation, this Issue Forum on the opportunities that global trade u particularly in the western hemisphere u is creating for minority businesses in America.

Generally speaking, the facts show that the overwhelming majority of minority-owned enterprises in the United States are small or medium-sized businesses. Generally speaking, many, if not most, of these businesses target markets within the respective minority communities in which they arose or within the cities or regions with sizeable minority populations. Generally speaking, minority businesses play an indispensable role in generating jobs for minorities. And, again, generally speaking, beyond minority clientele minority-owned enterprises often have had to limit themselves to seeking business through the contracting or procurement functions of local, state, and sometimes the federal government.

This is understandable and justified, and not unique to minority businesses. One would be hard-pressed to name a single major corporation in American history that became a major corporation without enjoying a pivotal relationship with government. Similarly, it is difficult to find an example of a minority-owned enterprise outside of financial services that didn’t at least start off basing itself on the market the minority community from which it emerged.
I want suggest an additional option. I want you to think about the market possibilities u indeed, the new and unprecedented market opportunities u that globalization is creating for minority businesses, particularly in the western hemisphere.

When you leave here a couple of hours from now you will have a definitive understanding of what participation in global trade can do for your enterprise. You will be made aware of the fact that 95 percent of the world’s potential consumers live outside of the United States. You will learn that even subtracting for the United States, the remaining 58 of the 59 countries that make up the western hemisphere represent a potential 600 million-person market for an infinite variety of goods and services.

You will discover that small and medium-sized companies account for 97 percent of all U.S. exporters. More than 225,000 small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) exported goods and services from the United States in 2004 (the last year for which figures are available).
Over 25,000 companies exported goods abroad from New York State in 2005. This was the third highest number among the 50 states. But get this: 94 percent of those companies more than 23,500 firms in all were small or medium sized businesses with fewer than 500 employees. Small businesses in New York had generated more than 54 percent of New York’s total exports of merchandise.

New York City is the second largest customs district in the United States. Only Los Angeles handles more international trade. Whether goods are being imported or exported, more trade through NY ports means more jobs for New Yorkers. In the case of minority firms, history tells us that this also means more jobs for minorities.

You will leave here also having heard about specific commercial opportunities and specific needs from the ambassadors Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Panama. You will have been presented with information on how small and medium-sized businesses can access federal resources, technical assistance, and grants from senior officials from the Department of Commerce, the Export-Import Bank, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

And, you will have had an opportunity to get to know each other, share common concerns, gain new insights, exchange business cards, and have follow-up conversations. Who knows what kinds of partnerships, collaborations, and joint ventures might result.

In the nineteenth century, Horatio Alger advised enterprising young people to “Go, west, young man.” Here in the first decade of the 21st century, my suggestion is, “Go, western hemisphere, young man and young lady.” A growing number of countries in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, represent durable, long term, increasing diverse markets. There opportunities are there. It’s up to you to take advantage of them.