Blog December 2012

MBDA’s National Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week has by tradition set the standard as the premier event for minority entrepreneurs, business owners, and advocates. On December 5-6, the 30^th anniversary milestone event officially joined the ranks as one of the most successful MED Week’s in the history of the conference.

This year’s event was attended by nearly 1,300 individuals representing a broad range of industries from across the globe. In the State of Commerce Address, Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank opened the conference with inspirational remarks on the growth of the economy and highlighted the crucial role that minority-owned businesses play in exporting and job creation. Acting Secretary Blank’s address embodied the theme of this year’s conference, Job Creation in America: Build it Here – Sell it Everywhere!, and set the tone for the conference agenda, which included an International Business-to-Business Linkage networking reception attended by the Brazilian Ambassador to the United States, a partnership announcement between MBDA and the Export-Import Bank that launched the “Global Outreach Alliance,” and numerous seminars and workshops focused on the global supply chain and emerging markets.

As we approach the winter holidays, we pause to thank you for your continued partnership. It is business associates like you that bring a rich mosaic of experiences, attitudes and views that continue to advance MBDA’s mission to create jobs and foster the growth and global competitiveness of minority-owned firms.

It’s been an extremely productive year at MBDA and we are excited to share some of our many achievements from this past year.  We’ve completed a major organizational restructuring that enabled us to increase funding to MBDA Business Centers.  We also launched several “specialty” MBDA Business Centers including: the Atlanta MBDA Business Center, which is now staffed to provide expert guidance for minority-owned businesses in the healthcare technology and advanced manufacturing industry sectors; the San Antonio MBDA Business Center that has expanded their services to include expertise in exporting to Latin America; and the MBDA Federal Procurement Center, the first MBDA Business Center to solely focus on federal contracting.;