A federal agency devoted to growing minority-owned companies will host an International Trade Day on Aug. 7 as part of its weeklong business development conference.

The Atlanta regional office of the Minority Business Development Agency, a branch of the U.S. Department of Commerce, will sponsor the free, all-day seminar at the World Trade Center Atlanta.

The seminar and other activities are part of Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week.  Each of the agency’s five offices hold regional conferences during the summer that culminate in the national MED Week event in September.

At the trade day event in Atlanta, local experts will make presentations on exporting, doing business in Asia and Central America, freight forwarding, finding East African business partners and other topics.

Joann Hill, business development chief for the Atlanta office, said the event has evolved significantly since she started it six years ago.

At the time, Ms. Hill noticed that many of her clients wanted to export but didn’t know how to get started.  She began working with the U.S. Export Assistance Center, also part of the Commerce Department, to establish a day of international programming.  

What started as a how-to on the basics of exporting morphed into a detailed trade conference as more minority business owners became aware of opportunities provided by globalization.

“A lot more companies are interested in global markets.  I think everything is going global and with that curiosity comes interest in how to do that,” Ms. Hill told GlobalAtlanta.  

For business owners looking succeed abroad, she said the conference can help erase one of the only serious impediments: lack of proper information. 

“They really need to come out to this event to learn and understand, without having to go through a trial-and-error period, … about the resources that are available,” she said.

Inevitably, those resources will include like-minded businesspeople.  Ms. Hill said that the past four trade day events have attracted 50-75 attendees who sometimes used the event as a networking tool to find joint-venture partners.

In 2006, the year of the most recent event, networking lasted long after the official conclusion of the event, spilling into the restaurant across the street from the World Trade Center, Ms. Hill said. 

This year’s event will last from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. with a lunch break in between and a reception afterwards until 6 p.m.  

Ms. Hill said the Atlanta regional office of the Minority Business Development Agency is the only one yet to integrate a full day of international programming into its MED Week.

The theme of the Aug. 3-9 Atlanta MED Week is “The Power of Strategic Alliances in the Global Economy.”

Ms. Hill’s regional office oversees eight state branches throughout the Southeast.  Other regional offices are located in Chicago, Dallas, New York and San Francisco.