Empowering AAPI-Owned Businesses Through Federal Resources

With the holidays coming up, it is an opportune time for us to recognize the businesses that support and help our economy grow healthier and make the season more special. The White House recently released its employment situation in November and shared the good news that the private sector has added nearly 11 million jobs over 57 straight months of job growth, extending the longest streak on record. A big contributor to this success is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI)-owned businesses throughout the country. AAPI-owned businesses, like other minority-owned businesses, continue to grow and create jobs in difficult times, testifying to their important role in helping drive economic recovery and growth.

In just five years, the number of small businesses owned by Asian Americans grew 40 percent. The number of small businesses owned by Pacific Islanders grew by 30 percent. With more than 1.5 million AAPI-owned businesses in the United States generating more than $500 billion in sales annually and employing more than 2.8 million workers, their success is critical to the overall economy.

The White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders’ Executive Order speaks explicitly to the power of the Initiative to connect AAPI-owned businesses to business development, counseling, and capital in the federal government. To that end, we are excited to launch a website dedicated to connecting AAPI-owned businesses to federal resources.

This new AAPI business website aims to be a hub of federal resources and tools, such as from the Small Business Administration (SBA), the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Minority Business Development Agency, Export.gov, and the Export-Import Bank.

On the website, you will find the following information:

1. Starting your business: Read tips and insights on the first steps to a successful business.
2. Managing your business: Find tools and programs that can help you manage your business.
3. Expanding your business: Look at ways to expand and grow your business even more, either through exports or government contracts.
4. Upcoming events: Search through calendars of events from various agencies.
5. Data and statistics: Greater access to data will help shape the dialogue on how to improve the quality of life for underserved AAPIs through smart policymaking at the federal, state, and local level.
6. Local assistance: Locate local assistance from various agencies in your area that can provide in-person help.
7. Glossary: Learn important acronyms and terms for your business.

Please help share this new resource, so that together, we can support AAPI-owned businesses in our growing economy.

Kiran Ahuja is Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.