Friday may be the end of the work week, but it will be all business at the Baird Center as the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce hosts its second annual Black & Diversity Business Showcase.
Held from 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., this day-long entrepreneurship festival will provide engaging networking opportunities and spotlight local businesses with the help of distinguished guest speakers. Help educate, enlighten, and hopefully inspire the region's diverse business owners. The rise, the coaching sessions… and the legendary Green Bay Packers. (OnMilwaukee is a proud sponsor of this event.) The Baird Center will be filled with thoughtful and thorough business and entrepreneurship conversations, but since it's the start of the weekend, there will also be plenty of fun and festivities.
Here are six reasons why this weekend's Black & Diverse Business Showcase is TGIF-worthy. (Register here so you don't miss out.)
The Black & Diverse Business Showcase is all about business, and that means business when it comes to the event's featured speakers and performers.
Coach Latasha Brooks, a global business consultant, will be the keynote speaker for the morning session from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., discussing strategies for winning government contracts across a wide range of industries. And the showcase afternoon session from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. will feature iconic business entrepreneur, speaker, and author Dr. George C. Fraser. He has been writing, speaking, and organizing on Black business topics for decades. Entrepreneurship and Networking.
And because it wouldn't be a Wisconsin event without a touch of green and gold, the showcase will feature a meet-and-greet session with Super Bowl champion and Packers icon Antonio Freeman. He has two sessions, one starting at 1:30 p.m. and the other at 5 p.m., both of which can be accessed with a minimum donation of $75. Whether you're looking for business inspiration or a touchdown, Black & Diverse Business Showcase can help.
Business moves fast, and speed coaching moves even faster. Hosted by the Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC), the Showcase Speed Coaching Session (held from 1:30 to 5 p.m.) will give attendees the opportunity to chat one-on-one with business experts and Provides an opportunity to gain expertise and advice. Fast-paced, but personalized format. This setup also allows a participant to register for multiple sessions and receive advice from multiple knowledgeable businesspeople in one afternoon. This is a great way to learn a lot of great information from a lot of great resources in a very short amount of time. Register for a session now.
We talked a lot about business. Now it's party time! In addition to Christopher's Project music playing throughout the showcase, capping off the daylong event at 5 p.m. is the TBWCC Gala, an upbeat and fun celebration of local Black and diverse businesses. We have delicious dinners and inspiring music. DJ Le Boogie. As long as good times last, the celebration pays homage and pays fitting tribute to recent Black and diverse business excellence and accomplishments across our community. And attendees will also help select the winning entrepreneur in TBWCC's pitch contest, with the winning entrepreneur earning $10,000 towards their business ambitions, making the celebration an even more noteworthy success story in the future. I hope that this will help you create. This is a great way to end the showcase. A party with purpose and real power.
This showcase will feature many conversations about supporting local Black and diverse businesses. So, of course, this event will give attendees a great opportunity to literally put their money where their mouth is, with emerging local businesses and retail markets within the venue. . Hosted throughout the day-long symposium, the Market Area will feature all kinds of retailers, vendors, and local businesses, showcasing their impressive work and services. Get some great business and entrepreneurship advice and motivation, and get some of the perfect holiday gifts you've been looking for this season.
Panels, speakers, and parties are obviously the featured elements of the Black & Diversity Business Showcase, but perhaps the most important and important part of the day-long event is what happens between all the glamorous showcases. In other words, networking. Bringing together entrepreneurs and fellow business owners from around the region, this event is a great opportunity to meet like-minded, open-minded people, exchange stories and ideas, learn about others' experiences, and gain new insights and advice. It will be. , and maybe even make connections with great future collaborators, partners, or just friends. At the end of the day, it's the people who make the business. The Black & Diversity Business Showcase is a great opportunity to showcase many great businesses.
Starting and running a business is hard work, but it's even harder when you're a Black or diverse business. This is a national problem — as of last year, only 2.4 percent of all businesses in the United States were black-owned — but it's also a problem specifically in Wisconsin and Milwaukee. Milwaukee ranks eighth for the lowest percentage of black-owned businesses among major metropolitan areas. And earlier this year, the state was ranked the fourth worst state in the nation for minority entrepreneurs.
Efforts have been made in recent years to improve these statistics, and events like Friday's Showcase with the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce are a way to continue moving Milwaukee and the state forward by sharing knowledge and resources. , giving companies the stage and spotlight. It’s about the rise and overall fostering of communities where Black and diverse entrepreneurship can thrive. And with Friday's showcase, you can be a part of that progress and continue moving Milwaukee toward a brighter future for everyone. (Having fun and learning from cool people in the process!)
The Black & Diverse Business Showcase will be held at the Baird Center (formerly the Wisconsin Center) on Friday, December 8th from 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. For more information about the event and, most importantly, how to register, please visit the Showcase website. For more updates, events and initiatives, check out his website and social media for the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce.
