Government agencies and corporations are hoping Chinese-American small businesses will participate in minority business certification programs to increase the likelihood that they can win contracts and become suppliers.
Language and cultural barriers often stand in the way of Asian minorities who want to grow their business by bidding for jobs or to provide goods or services to federal, state and local government agencies or companies with diversity goals.
A panel of minority business experts made presentations to demystify the certification process Monday at the inaugural U.S.-China Business Summit.
More than 1,200 people are attending the three-day event at the Venetian that ends today.
“The fact is that these certification programs provide opportunities and open doors,” said Beverly Ho-A-Yun Popek, project director of San Francisco-based Asian Inc., a business consultant who served on the panel.
She and her fellow panelists endorsed seeking minority certification – verification that the ownership of a company is more than half minority or women and that more than half of the management team are minorities or women. But they cautioned that businesses shouldn’t seek certification just to be eligible for the benefits, but to embrace the cultural significance diversity brings to a business relationship.
“Every company needs a marketing plan,” added panelist George Mui, a business consultant for the Minority Business Development Agency. “You can’t just rely on being a minority business.”
Panelists said it could take hours to fill out forms to provide the information necessary for certification, but the effort usually is worth it. In addition, the renewal process is often very simple, giving small businesses a long-term benefit for a little work up front.
One Las Vegas company that has embraced minority participation is MGM Mirage, and the company’s director of supplier diversity, Kenyatta Lewis, attended the panel.
MGM Mirage’s 2007 diversity report shows that of the $1.5 billion in biddable goods and services expenditures in Clark County, $166 million worth was awarded to minority, women and disadvantaged business enterprises. About 32 percent of those expenditures went to Asian companies, the largest of the minority pie.
Lewis said the amount could be higher because some companies don’t register as minority businesses. She said the company is just beginning to track expenditures for the company’s new CityCenter development, but she expects the percentages to be higher than the company overall because of the emphasis placed on diversity.
“To us, it’s not a goal as much as it’s a way of life and a culture,” she said.
Diversity and minority certification was one of several business topics discussed in the more than 60 presentations at the summit, which included a keynote address by Sichan Siv, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The event included a trade show with 140,000 square feet of exhibits.
The event was held in conjunction with the sixth annual Top 100 Chinese Restaurants awards ceremony and was developed by Kong Yu, president of the sponsoring Smart Business Services Inc.
Former Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt-Bono, who led the push to expand the relationship between Nevada and China by opening a state tourism office in Beijing in 2004, coordinated the local organization of the event. An awards dinner Monday night included a videotaped presentation by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, a Chinese American who once was the governor of Washington.
Other dignitaries attending the event were Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, who heads the state’s Tourism and Economic Development commissions; Congresswoman Judy Chu of California; Gao Zhansheng, consul general of the People’s Republic of China in San Francisco; Las Vegas Councilman Stavros Anthony and Henderson Councilwoman Gerri Schroder.
Organizers are optimistic that the summit will become an annual event in Las Vegas.
