News > Business Development Expert Addresses Students
Business Development Expert Addresses Business Students Students in the School of Business were given a lesson in innovative and effective entrepreneurship recently when the first officially appointed National Director of the Minority Business Development Agency, Ronald Langston, addressed them during a special lecture session. Mr. Langston was in town to give a keynote presentation on overcoming the challenges of globalization at a special business seminar sponsored by the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce, the Bahamas Development Bank and the United States Embassy. The Minority Business Development Agency at the U.S. Department of Commerce is dedicated to advancing the establishment and growth of minority-owned firms in the United States through a network of minority business centers and strategic partners. It works with minority entrepreneurs who wish to grow their businesses in size, scale and capacity. Mr. Langston, who has business development and organizational experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors, told the business students that there is a great reward to being an entrepreneur, but a successful enterprise requires faith, vision and innovation. "The greatest challenge of minority businesses and particularly African American and Hispanic businesses is size, scale and capacity. You need these to compete on a global level," he said. "You need access to capital, education and you need to use technology. Often, we do not engage and use technology to our competitive advantage. The greatest advantage that we have today as an emerging domestic economy of entrepreneurs, is taking full advantage of technology because through the website, through the communications, we can look as big as IBM or Pioneer. We have the skill and ability to do those things."  He added that there is a great need for the African Diaspora to take full advantage of collaborating on business ventures in order to overcome the challenges of globalization. "So this idea of globalization is very important because whether we like it or not it is here," he said. "The question is if we will rise and meet the challenges and opportunities of globalization or if we will continue to, in some cases, be victimized by it because of our apathy, lack of interest and because we don't have the will or lack the skill to be effective." In Mr. Langston's view, the number one failure of entrepreneurs is the lack of operational and financial literacy. "We must organize, we must plan, we must engage the world economy because there are very specific threats and one of the key threats is when we fail to adapt and adjust to this global economy and we will be left behind," he said. "If you are going to be focused, if you are going to be disciplined I think there is opportunity, but there is also great competition. So unless we adapt, unless we change, we are going to lose." Mr. Langston has served as delegate of the American Council of Young Political Leaders where he traveled to West Germany, France, and Belgium. Most recently, he also served as the U.S. Department of Commerce's delegate to the 2003 Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Conference in Mauritius.
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