Minority business development, once the inspiration and responsibility of the business community as a whole, becomes the responsibility of the minority business community in the new millennium. This important trust is now in the hands of minority business persons to guide, educate and promote the minority business leaders of the future.
Where will these minority business leaders of the future come from? How can they be nurtured and what heritage can today's minority business leaders leave to their successors?
First, the minority business leaders of the future will come from the pioneering minority families and businesses that are thriving today. The successes that we read about regularly did not evolve easily. Today's successful minority businesses overcame many obstacles, too numerous to mention in this brief overview. The lessons that were learned are priceless and problems that were solved are formidable and can only be taught by effective mentorship programs that must be developed by today's minority business leaders.
Tomorrow's minority business leaders must be identified today. They must be developed, groomed and fairly compensated along the way to provide incentives for assuming the responsibility of continuing this valuable sector of our business community.
The minority businesses and the business persons who operate them are a valuable and important part of the business community as a whole. Minority business leaders serve on local, regional, state and national boards in a variety of effective organizations that help to promote our society and make it aware of the many agendas that special interest groups champion from time to time.
Today's minority business leaders contribute to the conscience of the business community, often raising voices when business ethics are infringed upon. They raise the level of consciousness of fair treatment in the minds of corporate leadership in virtually every industry of today's business. They are examples of the underlying claim of our American heritage of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, a heritage granted under our Constitution to every American, male or female, of whatever race, color or creed.
They are the living proof that notwithstanding circumstances, through education, training and hard work, anyone can make a better life for themselves and their families. No other society in history can lay claim to a greater championing of the rights of minorities to share an equal role in the business world.
The business world in the 21st Century will have a greater number of minority businesses and minority business leaders, and rightfully so. Their products and the employees who make the products are and will continue to play a major role in the buying public as these businesses prosper and share their successes with each other. No business in the 21st century that fails to recognize the importance of the minority business community's impact on the economy will be successful.
Also, an often overlooked byproduct of minority business is the value of providing a sufficient income for minority families that allows these families to foster the seeds of education in the minds of their children. Without these minority businesses focused on an often ignored segment of our society, I feel confident there would be fewer college educations, doctors, lawyers, scientists and other professionals representing the minority sector in our society.
Minority businesses provide the wages that today's minority parents can use to not only provide incentives, but also the funds to ensure that their children are offered and are able to accept the education and training to become a part of the leadership our fast moving society will depend on in the new millennium.
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