The number of businesses owned by minorities and women are growing exponentially, yet they aren't taking full advantage of the global marketplace available through the Internet, a senior U.S. Commerce Department official said yesterday.

"Conceptually, there is no limit to what e-commerce can do," Assistant Commerce Secretary Awilda R. Marquez told an audience at Morgan State University's Earl G. Graves School of Business and Management.

"Money is being exchanged and profits are being made," she said.

From 1992 to 1997, the number of African-American new businesses grew 46 percent; Asian-American businesses grew 61 percent; and Latino-American businesses grew 83 percent, she said. Meanwhile, the number of white-owned businesses grew 26 percent.

The Internet has become an "easier, cheaper way" of entering international trade, especially for small companies, Marquez said.

"Countries are thirsty to diversify their markets," she said, adding that 96 percent of the world market is outside the United States. "They want Americans to come in, but we're not there."

Marquez, formerly an attorney with the Baltimore law firm of Piper & Marbury, is also the director general of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, which is part of the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration.

In 1989, she helped found Women Entrepreneurs of Baltimore Inc., a group that coaches low-income women in skills needed to run a small business.

Yesterday, Marquez highlighted Africa as a fertile area for trade.

"The U.S. has an inaccurate image of overseas markets, particularly in Africa," she said. "I'm saddened by the recent massacre of tourists in Uganda, but that's so rare and not a part of every day life in Africa.

"What you'll find are huge, industrial parks, successful commercial centers and busy office buildings," Marquez said.

Students such as Carla Hobson, a freshman marketing major, planned to heed Marquez' suggestions about international trade.

"I think I'm going to change my life plan now," said Hobson, 23. "Ms. Marquez spoke of the Foreign Commercial Service, and that sounds like something I'd like to do.

"I can help market U.S. businesses to other countries," she said.

The Commerce Department promotes trade through offices in 70 countries.

Marquez was a featured speaker in the Graves School's Bryson-Sawyer Lecture Series. The 4-year-old series has introduced students to top business leaders, said Mildred Glover, the assistant dean.

Pub Date: 3/05/99