Hundreds of minority and small business owners gathered at the Jackson Convention Complex Monday, July 26, to learn how to do business with agencies and contractors who receive federal funds.
It was a networking opportunity billed as the “Mississippi Economic Recovery and Procurement Summit,” and featured a who’s who panel of experts, including U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi’s Second Congressional District, who urged those in charge of disseminating funds to not be afraid of doing business with minority and small business leaders in Mississippi.
“There’s always this notion that somehow minorities and small businesses don’t meet the task. That’s not true, but nonetheless, (the opinion) is still out there. If you give minority businesses an opportunity, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. We have a number of very qualified small businesses that only need a chance to show their ability,” Thompson said.
Thompson added that when you do business with minority and small-owned business ‘you are allowing the dollar to turn over several times in that community.’
“Most minority contractors hire minorities, who tend to be the highest unemployed in the area, but they also tend to live in that area. So if you’re looking to lower the unemployment roll in any community, the best way to do that is to hire a minority contractor,” Thompson said. “Those individuals will invest probably 100 percent of that money they make as minority contractors back into the community. When you get the turn on that money, all of the businesses – the grocery stores and other businesses – profit from that, too.”
Deputy Secretary for the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Ron Sims, making his first visit to the magnolia state, pledged that the Obama administration believes in minority and small businesses and that it was one of his [Obama] top priorities for genuine minority inclusion.
“America has an entrepreneurial spirit, and we want to make sure the entrepreneurial spirit looks like the rest of America. Mississippi affords us a great opportunity to begin to create that momentum,” Sims said.
Sims said these agencies have money and an obligation to do business in local communities and they are held accountable.
“We’re now going to our partners, the people who received our grants and saying to them you had this obligation and we’re very serious about seeing that obligation fulfilled with small businesses, minority businesses and disadvantaged women businesses,” Sims shared gleefully. “We intend to see the money used for that purpose and we’re being very aggressive with all of our partners at making sure that happens.”
Sims said investing locally is key to full recovery from this economic downturn. “We want to see jobs created. We want to see people hired locally and money spent locally,” Sims shared. “There are people outside this room right now matching opportunities to businesses. We’ve done that in Philadelphia, Chicago and now here.”
Socrates Garrett, CEO of Garrett Enterprises and founder of The Mississippi Link newspaper, said this summit couldn’t have happened at a better time.
“It’s tough out here on small minority owned firms and I’m excited to see the federal government take a real interest in wanting to do business with us,” Garrett said. “HUD is a leader in this country and to have Deputy Secretary Sims here today is a very big deal.”
Sims recognized Garrett as a being a leader in the minority business community.
The event included a HUD training session and a “Business to Business Matchmaking” session, which featured representatives from the Mississippi Development Authority and the city of Jackson.
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