MANCHESTER — Minority-owned businesses are growing rapidly but still represent a small fraction of overall economy activity, a Bush Administration economic development official said yesterday.

Census data and the government's survey of minority business ownership showed entrepreneurship up among all minorities: 45 percent among African-Americans, 31 percent among Hispanics, 20 percent among Asians and 20 percent among women.

"That's just a phenomenal growth rate," said Ronald N. Langston, national director of the Minority Business Development Agency, an arm of the U.S. Commerce Department in Washington. Langston was the keynote speaker at yesterday's "Business Diversity Conference" at the Radisson Hotel Center of New Hampshire.

"The challenge for the United States between now and 2050 is that the fastest growing segment of the nation's population will be among minorities," Langston said.

A panel moderated by Robin Comstock, president of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, discussed issues regarding racial and cultural diversity in New Hampshire workplaces. About 80 people attended the morning session.

Stuart T. Arnett, director of the state Division of Economic Development, said, "When it comes to developing (the) economy, cultural diversity is not just a good business idea, not just a nice thing to do, but is a requirement."

Kendal H. Tyre, partner and Diversity Action Committee co-chair for Nixon Peabody LLP law firm, said from 2002 to 2007 minority purchasing power in the U.S. is projected to grow by 40 percent, to $1.4 trillion.

"For the companies of New Hampshire, the question is where does your business stand with respect to diversity," Tyre said. "Do you actively recruit women and other diverse candidates? Are there equal opportunities for your employees to succeed? . . . Would your diversity track record be an asset or a liability?"

Langston, who has served in the Bush Administration for 4½ years, said despite rapid growth in minority businesses, their overall impact on the economy is still small.

"The challenge is that though 30 percent of the U.S. population is minority, they only represent 15 or 16 percent of all the firms," Langston said.

"They don't hire nearly in proportion to their ratio of the population as majority groups, and their gross receipts are only 3.2 percent," he said. "I want to see those numbers up to 15 to 20 percent of gross receipts. I want to see the hiring rate at about 28 to 29 million, as opposed to 4.5 million, so there is a lot of room for improvement. There's what I call opportunity gaps there."

Of approximately 3.4 million minority businesses, just 3 percent have $1 million or more in gross receipts, Langston said. "Our challenge is to get those mircobusinesses down and get the ones that are multi-million dollar up. That's where you're going to see people being hired, partnerships, strategic alliances and competitiveness on a global scale," he said.

On the Net:,/i>

www.nhcdac.org (N.H. Cultural Diversity Awareness Council)

www.mdba.gov (Minority Business Development Agency)

www.rebuildingthegulfcoast.gov (Hurricane Contracting Information Center)