Press Release

Media Contacts

For further information contact:

Timothy Harwood

(202) 336-8744

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

OPIC to Hold Minority and Women-owned Business Workshops in Boston and St. Louis

Announcement marks National Small Business Week

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Dr. Lawrence Spinelli, Acting President of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), announced today that OPIC would conduct workshops for minority- and women-owned businesses in Boston and St. Louis in the fall of 2009 – the latest in a highly-successful series that has to date educated more than 750 small and medium-size business owners around the country about OPIC products and services. Dr. Spinelli made the announcement as part of OPIC’s celebration of National Small Business Week.

"I am very pleased that we are celebrating National Small Business Week by announcing that OPIC will be continuing its pioneering outreach effort to minority and women-owned small businesses,” Dr. Spinelli said. “OPIC’s Expanding Horizons workshops have informed hundreds of minority and women-owned business owners from coast to coast about how OPIC products can gain them access to emerging markets overseas. As such, they have been OPIC’s most successful vehicle for domestic outreach to date. We expect that success to continue in Boston and St. Louis, and look forward to meeting with business owners in both cities.”

Dr. Spinelli noted that, in an addition to customary sessions on OPIC products such as political risk insurance and financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the upcoming workshops will feature a new session on OPICsupport for renewable energy and clean energy technology projects, a new area of focus for the agency.

The Boston workshop will be held September 24 at the Westin Hotel at Copley Place. The St. Louis workshop will be held October 22 at the St. Louis Union Station Marriott.

OPIC held Expanding Horizons workshops in Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles during 2006, and in Miami, Newark, San Francisco and Houston in 2007. Combined attendance for the workshops was 765 participants, representing 22 states. Sixty-seven organizations supported the workshops.

National Small Business Week, May 17-23, enables the U.S. Small Business Administration to recognize America’s top SME entrepreneurs.

OPIC is the U.S. Government’s development finance institution. It mobilizes private capital to help solve critical development challenges and in doing so, advances U.S. foreign policy. Because OPIC works with the U.S. private sector, it helps U.S. businesses gain footholds in emerging markets catalyzing revenues, jobs and growth opportunities both at home and abroad. OPIC achieves its mission by providing investors with financing, guarantees, political risk insurance, and support for private equity investment funds.

Established as an agency of the U.S. Government in 1971, OPIC operates on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to American taxpayers. OPIC services are available for new and expanding business enterprises in more than 150 countries worldwide. To date, OPIC has supported nearly $200 billion of investment in over 4,000 projects, generated $74 billion in U.S. exports and supported more than 275,000 American jobs.