Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 5 November 1999 — Page 7

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5,1999

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

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Vote to redefine status of minority businesses delayed

By MAISHAH ENGLISH Special to the NNPA From the Washington A FRO-American

J (NNPA)-Black and Hispanic business leaders are pleased that d vote to redefine minority-owned Businesses has been delayed for : 90 days. Business leaders were up in arms when the National ' Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) introduced the ^Growth Initiative for Minority Business” proposal, which would lower the SI percent ownership requirement necessary for a business to qualify as minority-owned. “ For 27 years, the federally legislated rule has been that a business needed to have SI percent thinority ownership to be considered a minority business. But, the vote could have reduced the per-

centage to 30.

Earl Graves Sr., publisher of Black Enterprise Magazine who is opposed to the proposal, said, “This reprieve will enable us to more closely examine this and other proposals that may provide solutions, while giving us time to build full consensus among mi* nority-owned businesses in support of said solutions.” Graves was among the many Black and Hispanic business owners who united in at a recent press conference in Washington, D.C. to express their objection to the revision. He was joined by Kweisi Mfume, president and CEO, NAACP; Rev. Al Sharpton, presirent. National Action Network; ■r. Dorothy L. Height, chair, National Council of Negro Women Inc.; Ed Lewis, publisher, chairman and CEO, Essence Communications Inc. and Hugh B, Price, president and CEO, National Urban League. “We’re ecstatic. We would have opposed the requirement change,” said Chairman Ray Arvizu. “It is too vague what the overall impact would be and a lot of businesses were not at the W V-'t 1 ’> i. f. .••.?>** • • f }*f1 According to the NMSDC, this initiative was aimed at helping businesses through providing growth opportunities for minority businesses by attracting capital and helping them grow to compete with larger national suppliers. The plan would make it easier for major corporations, many of which are represented on the NMSDC’s 80-member board, to qualify as “minority-owned” by reducing the requirement. But, opponents say this strat-

egy basically suggests that the best way for Black-owned businesses to grow “is not to be Black.” "The unintended result will be to give these pseudo minorityowned companies an unfair advantage over truly Black-owned firms in the competition for corporate contracts,” a letter from opponents read. “We do not need to return to the days when all a white company hadtodotoqualify as a minority company was to hire a minority executive as president and give him or her a token (both senses of the word) stake in business.” According to the NMSDC, the initiative has been under review for 18 months. The proposed requirement would be lowered on a case-by-case basis and only firms already certified as minorityowned would be eligible for the lower requirement. In addition, all NMSDC-certified companies will continue to maintain 31 percent of the voting stock and maintain daily control of the of their businesses. However, to enhance significant capital investment, the proposal would allow Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) to sell up to 70percentof the non-voting stock. This initiative is considered an important tool for MBEs to participate in the national and global economy on an equal footing. While the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce opposed the proposal, other groups such as the National Association of Black Auto Suppliers have supported it, saying businesses need capital to grow. Dr. Yvonne ScruggsLeftwich, executive director and CEO of the Black Leadership Forum Inc., said the organization fully supports the NMSDC and its president Harriet Michel. In an Oct. 26 letter to Ms. Michel regarding the proposal. Black Leadership Forum Chair Joseph Lowery supported and encouraged a 90-day window proposed by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). The letter, dated one day before the vote postponement, was a follow-up to a conference call between Lowery, CBC Chair Rep. James. E. Clybum and Michel, in which suggestions were made to deal with the concern over this proposal. They all agreed that the proposal required additional review. They were in support of the NMSDC’s preservation of the principal of the MBE growth proposal and the common objective of improving growth within mi-nority-owned businesses.

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