Fry:  Private sector must play key role in minority business development

6-9-05 – Private-sector commitment to minority business development will be the key factor in generating sustained growth of businesses owned by minorities and women in the Baltimore region, GBC President Donald C. Fry told participants in a day-long conference on business diversity held at the Baltimore Convention Center.

Fry was a featured speaker at the Business Roundtable Luncheon for the “Business Exchange ’05 Tour for Success” conference presented by the Global Diversity Group. He outlined “Bridging the Gap,” an initiative of the GBC in alliance with the Presidents’ Round Table to strengthen the development of minority and women-owned businesses in the Baltimore region.

The luncheon panel of speakers also included GBC members Jake Oliver, of the Baltimore Afro-American; Lisa Harris, of the Law Offices of Lisa Harris; and Franklin Lee, of Shapiro, Sher Guinot & Sandler P.A.

“If we really want to create real wealth in the minority business community, it’s going to have to be driven by the private sector,” Fry told more than 200 luncheon guests.

Fry outlined the findings of a 2004 GBC-commissioned report by Anirban Basu of the Sage Policy Group. While there are 30,000 minority businesses in Greater Baltimore, that total is 13,741 fewer than in regions of comparable size. The region would add more than $5 billion in increased annual sales and create 32,000 jobs if its number of minority and women-owned businesses were in proportion to other regions of its size, said Fry.

Not only minority businesses would benefit from the growth. Basu’s report showed that majority businesses would realize $1.8 billion in increased sales from such an expansion of the minority business sector, Fry noted.

“The success of our region depends on the full participation of all of our business resources,” Fry said.

In addition to hosting workshops for minority business entrepreneurs on issues including access to capital, forming strategic alliances and business networking, the “Bridging the Gap” initiative is working to develop a comprehensive inventory of minority businesses in the region and their capabilities. The process will be used to produce a directory of minority resources, Fry said.

The second annual Bridging the Gap Achievement Awards, recognizing successful minority firms and majority firms who have demonstrated strong commitments to business diversity, is planned for October 2005.

The Bridging the Gap Initiative is sponsored by Constellation Energy and the Open Society Institute.

For more news on “Bridging the Gap,” click here.

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