|
|
| In this issue |
March 30, 2011 |
|
|
Senator Fight Fraud in Government Contracting Programs |
Senator Scott P. Brown
"Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Mary Landrieu (D- La.), Scott P. Brown (R-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), have introduced bipartisan legislation to combat contracting fraud at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Their initiative comes on the heels of several vulnerabilities and abuses in nearly all of SBA’s contracting programs, as identified in multiple reports by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO).”
"'With our nation facing record debt and deficits, it is absolutely critical that taxpayer dollars are used judiciously to ensure that small business contracting programs benefit the rightful recipients,' said Senator Brown, a member of the Senate Small Business Committee. 'This bipartisan legislation is a strong step toward ensuring that our contracting programs are operating effectively and efficiently.'"
Read More |
SBA Proposes Increase in Size Standards for Some Industries |
“A proposed rule published [on March 16, 2011] for comment in The Federal Register by the U.S. Small Business Administration [will] adjust the size definition of small businesses in professional, scientific and technical services and other services sectors.
The proposed revisions would increase the revenue-based size definition businesses need to meet to qualify as small businesses. They apply to businesses in 36 industries and one sub-industry in professional, scientific and technical services, and one industry in other services sectors.
The proposed changes take into account the structural characteristics within individual industries, including average firm size, the degree of competition, and federal government contracting trends to ensure that size definitions reflect current economic conditions within those industries."
Read More |
Remarks by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner at the Access to Capital Conference |
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner
"The financial crisis caused a great deal of damage to the capacity of innovators to access capital, and we can’t promote innovation and investment in the United States unless we help these innovative companies get the funding they need to succeed" said Tim Geithner.
“Alongside the broad measures we took to stabilize the financial system and financial markets, we supported three types of policy measures to help small companies – both start-ups and existing small businesses.”
By supporting 17 different tax cuts, putting resources into industries where small companies are most innovative, and developing several credit programs, the Treasury plans to build a financial system that better supports the growth and innovation of small businesses.
Read More
|
Federal Agencies Once Again Miss 23% Small & Minority Business Goals
|
Leaving $6 Billion in Lost Contracts: Administration Targets 7 Federal Agencies for Business Outreach to Reach Goals
“In a Memo to Agency officials, the small business procurement group Task Force leaders comprised of SBA, OMB, and Commerce Department said… ‘This underachievement deprives our taxpayers of the creativity, innovation, and technical expertise that small businesses provide to agencies as federal contractors, and takes away opportunities for small businesses to create jobs and drive the economy forward.
The small business procurement group is an informal, ad hoc group of senior agency officials that was established at the recommendation of the Interagency Task Force on Small Business Contracting to give White House Officials and the co-chairs of the Task Force – the Small Business Administration (SBA), the Department of Commerce (DOC), and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) – an opportunity to meet regularly with senior agency leadership and discuss the steps agencies are taking to increase small business contracting.
The group intends to review the progress of all agencies in achieving their small business contracting goals. Seven agencies participated in the group’s first meeting to discuss their progress: the Departments of Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs, the General Services Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration...'”
Read More
|
|
|
Corporate Profits At All-Time High As Recovery Stumbles |
|
"Despite high unemployment and a largely languishing real estate market, U.S. businesses are more profitable than ever, according to federal figures released on Friday.
U.S. corporate profits hit an all-time high at the end of 2010, with financial firms showing some of the biggest gains, data from the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis show."
Read More
|
GE Profit and Income Soars |
"The world's biggest maker of electric turbines and jet engines, whose shares rose 4 percent in premarket trading, also reported a 12 percent rise in orders, driving its backlog -- a key predictor of future sales -- to $175 billion."
"The largest U.S. conglomerate said [in January] fourth-quarter net income came to $4.5 billion, or 42 cents per share, up from $3 billion, or 28 cents per share, a year earlier.”
“Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt also noted that the company's finance unit posted a sharp improvement in the quarter, growing profit more than 10 times to $1.06 billion.”
Read More
|
Job Creation in US Hits 29-Year Low |
“The U.S. economy saw an all-time low of job creation rates from startup and existing firms in nearly 30 years, according to the Census Bureau's Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS). During this 30-year span there also was an increase in job losses. From 2006 to 2009, the overall job creation rate fell 4 points (from 16.5 percent), and among startups the job creation rate fell by 1 point (from 3 percent).
Compared to 2006 rates, however, this represents a 25 percent decrease in overall job creation and a 34 percent decline among startups. Despite these depressing numbers, new and expanding firms still created more than 14 million new jobs between March 2008 and March 2009, according to the BDS.
Job creation rates for existing businesses and new firms were lower in 2009 than in any year since at least 1980, the BDS brief shows.
In evaluating job-creation rates of startups and existing firms in recessions over the past three decades, the brief found that startups were more impacted by the Great Recession than by any other recession since the early 1980s."
Read More |
|
Small Business Jobs Act Tour |
Last fall, President Obama signed into law the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. The SBA, stated Deputy Administrator Marie Johns, is working to implement the Jobs Act and get the resources it offers into the hands of small businesses.
She also explained that the SBA is excited to announce the Small Business Jobs Act Tour, a series of sessions organized to get candid input and opinions from stakeholders throughout the business community.
The Tour, which includes thirteen stops across the country, allows small business owners to “meet with leaders from the SBA, give their input on new regulations, and learn how [to] take advantage of new tools coming out of the Jobs Act.”
To view a list of tour dates and breakout sessions you may be interested in attending, click the link below.
Read More |
Best Cities for Minority Entrepreneurs |
"Minority entrepreneurs are playing an increasingly important role. Just one data point: In 2010 immigrants accounted for nearly 30% of new business owners, versus 13% in 1996, according to the Kauffman Foundation. In Atlanta, where half the residents are African American, a host of Hispanic and Asian entrepreneurs have set up shop over the last decade. Atlanta now boasts the second-highest percentage of self-employed minorities among the top 52 metropolitan areas with populations greater than 1 million.
That statistic–combined with a growing population, increasing household incomes and affordable housing–puts Atlanta atop our list of best metro areas for minority entrepreneurs, assembled with help from economist-demographer Joel Kotkin, author of The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050."
To view the full list of the top 52 metro area's for minority entrepreneurs, click the link below.
Read More
|
Survey to the President and Congress |
Please complete the survey because your voice matters. Thank you!
The answers to this opinion poll will be published and sent to President Obama and leaders of both parties in Congress.
Click here to complete survey
|
Upcoming Events |
May 10-12, 2011
2011 DOE Small Business Conference
May 18, 2011
National Small Business Week
June 16, 2011
Hispanic Hero Award Gala
June 20-22, 2011
MBRT CEO Roundtable Annual Meeting |
|
|
MBRT LEADERSHIP
 |
Janice Bryant Howroyd
MBRT Board Chairman
Act. 1 Group Founder & CEO,
Torrance, CA |
|
 |
Andra M. Rush
MBRT Board Vice-Chairman
Rush Trucking, President & CEO,
Wayne, MI |
|
 |
Roger A Campos
MBRT Founder
President & CEO,
Washigton, DC |
|
|
ABOUT MINORITY BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE (MBRT)
|
| The Minority Business RoundTable (MBRT) is a national nonprofit 501(c) 3 membership organization for CEO's of the nation's largest and leading minority-owned companies. It functions as the vehicle for its mem bers to analyze and help formulate effective public policies that impact minority-owned businesses. Members hold positions equivalent to chief executive officers (CEO) or chairperson in their respective businesses. |
|
SPONSORS & PARTNERS
 |
 |
| 1629 K Street, N.W. Suite 300 Washington, DC 20006 | www.mbrt.net | Phone: 202-289-8881 | rogercampos@mbrt.net |
Unsubscribe me from this list
|
|
