Lighting, electrical, and solar energy products distributor FosRich Company Limited, through its newly formed associate company FosRich USA Inc, has secured entry in the United States as it moves to tap opportunities available in the minority business enterprise (MBE) niche market.

The value of contracts set aside for supply to the MBE community across the three states of Tennessee, Texas and New York, is said to be valued above US$10 billion.

FosRich, in moving to take advantage of mandatory federal, state and city contracts allocated to MBEs, earlier this week on June 10 opened its office in Ashland, Tennessee, which is serve as a hub from which it will organise the supply of products from its distribution plants in Jamaica to the US.

Tennessee, based on its tax-free status, managing director of FosRich Cecil Foster said, proved to be more welcoming to entities that support minority businesses, especially with MBEs often needing additional support to take up some of the infrastructure projects being funded by federal and state governments.

To this end, FosRich in seeking to capitalise on a potential demand for its solid PVC pipes suitable for use in some of these projects, sees those involving water supply and sewer system build-outs among its greatest areas of interest.

“We’ve opened this office to give support to minority and disadvantaged businesses under the Federal Finance Programme. As government continues to build out infrastructure across the country, a lot of small and medium-sized businesses also need the support to access these projects and we are here to supply them with the needed products as we also work with them in getting the projects done,” Foster told the Jamaica Observer in an update on the latest developments for his company.

Following the office’s opening on Monday, Foster and a few members of FosRich’s management team have since participated in meetings with city mayors, chambers of commerce personnel and a number of contractors from which they look to secure the requisite information for projects in which the company can participate.

Largely owned and operated by US citizens having minority (at least 25 per cent) ethnic descent, the MBE community is made up of a number of groupings spread across African Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, Latinx or Hispanics and other Native American descendants. These businesses, which are considered to be fast-growing, innovative and represented across all sectors in the United States, contributes directly to the US economy and accounts for the creation of millions of jobs.

The latest expansion undertaken, with what Foster described as a ‘small investment’, saw about US$30,000 in capital injection which was primarily used to fund start-up operations, covering cost associated with leases for office space and several other administrative expenses.

Upbeat about the return on investment, Foster said the outlook is promising.

“Right now we are looking at contracts of over US$1.5 billion on the table which these minority groups are to access, so if we can get at least 20 per cent of this supplied then we should be good,” Foster said.