Press Release

Thursday, September 14, 2006

OPIC Workshops Target Minority and Women-owned Businesses' Access to Global Markets

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Enabling minority and women-owned U.S. businesses to utilize their competitive advantages in emerging markets is the goal of three workshops to be hosted this fall by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), OPIC President and CEO Robert Mosbacher, Jr. announced today.

The OPIC Expanding Horizons workshops will be held in Atlanta, on September 28, in Chicago on October 12, and in Los Angeles on November 16. Companies interested in attending can register at www.trademeetings.com.

The workshops will provide representatives of minority and women-owned businesses in each city with information about OPIC programs, particularly its support for U.S. small businesses and projects in the housing and franchising sectors; overviews of overseas investment opportunities and challenges, political risk insurance and means to access capital; and information about other federal government programs offering assistance to minority and women-owned businesses.

Speakers will include senior government officials from OPIC and other agencies, international bankers, and representatives from businesses investing overseas. The workshops are being held in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and the National Women's Business Council.

A 2003 study by the MBDA suggested that minority-owned U.S. businesses enjoy ‘genuine competitive advantages’ for investing overseas – including flexibility, comfort and experience with diversity, and decision-making speed – but were not making sufficient use of them. Literature suggests that firms were reluctant to export because of perceived barriers and obstacles, the study reported.

The study indicated that for minority companies, the shift overseas in production of goods and services had created valuable opportunities: ‘foreign businesses in developing countries are small by world standards, and are looking for strategic partners with technical skills, plus the cultural characteristics that match their own.’

“Minority and women-owned businesses face unique challenges in the global marketplace: lack of knowledge about government programs available to support overseas investment, scarcity of private capital, and concern over political risks have prevented them from expanding overseas,” Mosbacher said. “By speaking to each of these hurdles, the Expanding Horizons workshops will aim to reverse that trend, so that minority and women-owned businesses can use their advantages to grow in emerging markets.”

“Understanding the dynamics of the global economy and its impact on domestic businesses is a vital element of any business strategy for the future. Armed with information and resources, minority and women-owned businesses that adjust and take advantage of new opportunities stand the best chance to prosper in new markets overseas,” Mosbacher added.

The Center for Women’s Business Research reported in 2005 that nearly half (48 percent) of all privately-held U.S. firms are 50 percent or more women-owned, employing 19.1 million people and generating nearly $2.5 trillion in sales. Annual expenditures by women-owned enterprises for just four areas – information technology, telecommunications, human resources services and shipping – are estimated to be $103 billion.

A U.S. Census survey found that in 2002 there were 4.1 million minority-owned businesses (MBEs), representing almost 18 percent of firms that could be classified according to the race, ethnicity or gender of ownership. These firms earned gross receipts of $668 billion and employed 4.7 million workers. Between 1997 and 2002, the number of MBEs increased by 35 percent, whereas the number of non-minority firms increased by only six percent.