LOS CABOS, Mexico – Valerie Daniels-Carter, the dynamic president of the Minority Franchise Association of Burger King Corporation, invited me to this sunny retreat south of the border to give the keynote address last week at the organization’s 30th anniversary conference.

During my stay, I was able to talk with Clyde Rucker, Burger King’s senior vice president and director of its diversity programs; “Magic” Johnson, who is being as successful in business as he was on the basketball court; Byron Lewis of UniWorld adversting agency, one of the nation’s top experts on advertising to people of color; Sam Tidmore, a longtime friend who was being honored along with Brady Keyes for their roles in establishing MFA, and many others.

While all were proud that an organization of Black franchise owners has been around for three decades, they were also aware of a paradox: At a time when sheer demographics should dictate a greater reliance on experts and business leaders who have developed expertise in reaching people of color, many African-American experts are being underutilized or kicked off of accounts in favor of larger, White ad agencies that claim that they can do a better job than people who have devoted their to lives to this cause.

When Andy Young was ambassador to the U.N., he decried what he called smart-butt White boys, or words to that effect, who automatically thought they were smarter than the most talented African-Americans. We saw similar arrogance on display during the past presidential campaign when cash-drenched White 527 political groups bypass experienced African-American grassroots organizations and devised their own plan for reaching African-American voters. Of course, they failed.

And many businesses are also going to fail if they refuse to adjust to a changing society.

According to the Census Bureau, over the next 50 years, the population of the United States will grow by almost 50 percent, increasing from 282.1 million in 2002 to 419.8 million in 2050. People of color will account for approximately 90 percent of that growth. Non-Hispanic Whites will see their share of the U.S. population fall from 69.4 percent in 2000 to 50.1 percent in 2050. Within the following decade, for the first tine in history, Whites will become a minority in the U.S.

Over the next half-century, African-Americans will increase their percentage of the population from 12.7 percent to 14.6 percent. Hispanics will see their share almost double, from 12.6 percent to 24.4 percent. Asians will go from 3.8 percent to 8 percent.

In terms of numbers, non-Hispanic Whites will go from 197.7 million in 2000 to 210.2 million in 2050, a gain of 7.4 percent. African-Americans will expand from 35.8 million to 61.3 million, a growth rate of 71.3 percent. Asians will grow from 10.6 million to 33.4 million, a 212.9 percent jump. And Latinos will almost triple, leaping from 35.6 million to 102.5 million, an increase of 187.9 percent.

As for buying power, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia, the combined annual buying power of African-Americans, Latinos, Asians and Native Americans will increase from $677.3 billion in 1990 to $2.5 trillion in 2008. For Blacks alone, it’s almost $1 trillion.

Few, if any, business executives can ignore those numbers. And those who do, will do so at their peril. The choice is simple: Do you go after that 7 percent growth rate or do you go after the 90 percent growth?

If an executive doesn’t know the correct answer, he or she should be taken into the board room, just as Donald Trump does on TV, and be told: “You’re fired.”

If the person managing your pension fund or retirement account is not investing in companies targeting the rapidly-expanding populations, he or she is costing you money, maybe all of your money.

And those ad agencies that think they can effectively reach Black consumers without advertising in the Black Press or using Black ad agencies are both arrogant and ignorant. More important, they are setting themselves up for failure. If a company allows its ad agency to bypass the Black Press, their earnings will be bypassed by competitors that are sensitive to these dramatic changes. Therefore, if executives don’t see the value of diversity from a business perspective, they are not fulfilling their fudiciary responsibility.

Instead of ignoring or marginalizing the quality talent that was assembled here by the Minority Franchise Association, companies should be competing to take advantage of such tremendous expertise. The smart CEOs will prove that they are smart by doing just that.