Bahn Sip Song Thai Bistro and Sports Bar

Lao Community Outreach

Helping minority businesses involves reaching out to the community, connecting with people, and learning about their ideas, needs, and expectations.  This December, the Lao community has welcomed MBDA and its partners to host an outreach event at Bahn Sip Song, a Thai Bistro and Sports Bar.  The goal of the event was to get members of the Lao community together and learn about options to grow or start their business.  The evening began with our special guests from various organizations sharing how to use the tools and services available to gain access to capital, expand a business, as well as financing and preparing for export. We thank the following guests for speaking about how their organizations help to grow business:

 Wayne Lau, Executive Director, Rainier Valley Community Development Fund

 Lee Gibbs, Export Finance Manager, Small Business Administration (SBA)

 Mark Costello, Supervisory Lender Relations Specialist, Small Business Administration

 John Brislin, Director, Export-Import Bank (EX-IM)

 Sharon Sappington, International Trade Specialist & Advisor, Small Business Development Center

MBDA Center-Tacoma is excited to have had the opportunity to host the Lao Community Business Workshop and glad to see such a turnout of approximately 50 attendees resulting in five potential new MBDA clients.  The attendees ranged from small business owners to individuals looking to certify their home base business.  We look forward to working with SBA, SBDA, EX-IM Bank, SBDC and the Rainier Valley Development Fund to grow their business through expansion or export.

Thanks go out to the following organizations for helping to make this workshop happen: