Why minority businesses development is vital for the US

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On the latest episode of Financial Freestyle with Ross Mac, Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Minority Business Development Eric Morrissette joins Mac to discuss the importance of minority business development.

“Over eight trillion of our economy is left on the table by not pulling in minority businesses,” says Morrissette. “Eight trillion is roughly a third of the GDP output of the United States.”

According to Morrissette, this makes the US less competitive globally. “We know that our adversaries wanna make sure that we are not as competitive as them, that we are sidelining that capital, and they know the wedges that divide our country. Racial divide’s the real wedge. If we continue to foment that wedge and allow people to think that like, if I get some, you don’t get some, then we are less competitive as a country,” he says.

Morrissette sees this as a solvable problem. He says that successful minority businesses create change in their communities as well as employment opportunities. They are, “how we can pull folks outta poverty, allow them an… equal opportunity to create businesses and… entrepreneurship for themselves.”

This is why Morrissette finds his work at the Minority Business Development Agency so important. “We’re not giving anybody anything. We’re trying to give people free equal access to opportunity to pull themselves up.”

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This post was written by Meredith Lawrence.