IT’S YOUR BUSINESS
Family in Business: Your
Hidden Key to Business
Growth
by Candace Shiver
W
hile serving as a Presidential
Appointee at the U.S. Depart-
ment of Commerce during
the Obama Administration, I
observed that many U.S. firms find immense
value in tapping into their networks of fam-
ily and friends located outside of the U.S.
for assistance with their business growth.
This applies to both domestic growth and
international expansion. These relationships
26 HimPower June 2017
that may initially begin as that of simple
support or indirect involvement often evolve
into successful and thriving “family busi-
nesses”.
As a matter of context, at that time, the
U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority
Business Development Agency had released
new data showing that particularly minori-
ty-owned businesses have the most favor-
able export attributes of any sector of the