Proclamation 6591

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

The national observance of Minority Enterprise Development Week is a decade-old tradition in which Americans of all races and ethnic groups convene to recognize and promote the achievements of more than one million minority business owners and entrepreneurs who support this Nation's continued economic growth. During Minority Enterprise Development Week, Americans also honor the many diligent minority business advocates in government and the corporate sector whose constant pursuit of excellence keeps our economy strong.

Minority-owned businesses are valuable assets for America. Each year, minority business enterprises return valuable resources to their communities in the form of taxes and provide wages and employment for thousands—particularly for minority workers. Each day, successful minority entrepreneurs fulfill an even more vital function by serving as teachers, mentors, and models for young Americans who are our business and civic leaders of tomorrow.

There is room in the free enterprise system for anyone who has the skill and the-determination to compete. Therefore, it is fitting that we encourage all Americans to participate in business enterprise, create their own wealth, and promote the general welfare. Minority business women and men have proven time and again that they possess the talent and dedication required for success. By improving the availability of capital sources for business starts and expansions in the minority community, by increasing access to state-of-the-art information resources for minority business owners, by promoting the minority entrepreneur's entrance into new domestic and international markets, and by opening all doors to economic progress for minority citizens, all of American society will benefit.

Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim the week of October 3 through 9, 1993, as Minority Enterprise Development Week. I heartily encourage the people of the United States to commemorate this important event with appropriate ceremonies and celebrations.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this thirteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eighteenth.

William J. Clinton