Conference Free to Minority Entrepreneurs

Minority entrepreneurs can attend a free daylong conference on a range of business topics that include e-commerce and the so-called digital divide, venture capital, banking and procurement.

The event will be June 22 from 7 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. at the Regal Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. It is sponsored by the Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency, Barrio Planners Inc. and U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles).

U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley is the invited keynote speaker and MBDA director Courtland Cox will lead the closing panel on e-commerce and supply-chain economics.

Corporations are increasingly recognizing minority purchasing power, and savvy minority entrepreneurs are uniquely poised to reach those consumers. Strategies include teaming with other minority entrepreneurs to perform on larger contracts, and mastering electronic procurement.

For more information, e-mail Linda Marmolejo, at lmarmolejo@mbda.gov; fax (415) 744-3061; or mail MBDA/SFRO U.S. Department of Commerce, 221 Main St., Suite 1280, San Francisco, CA 94105.