The Greater Augusta Black Chamber of Commerce (GABCC) is holding its 4th Annual Black Business Summit today. The annual event draws attention to the contributions of black- and minority-owned businesses during Black Business Month (BBM), founded in 2004 by John William Templeton, a historian, and Frederick E. Jordan, Sr., a civil engineer.
The summit will include vendors and opportunities for networking and panel discussions.
Ronic West, founder of GABCC, told ABD attendees will learn about what it takes to be an entrepreneur.
“Hearing from some elected officials, because we have representative Carlton Howard featured,” she explained. “How to keep their businesses growing and going. And we can connect to the organization so they can join some of our classes we have coming up.”
Speakers will include H. DeWayne Johnson, President, Southern Georgia Black Chamber; Moncello Stewart, President, Greater Savannah Black Chamber of Commerce; Sonali Paul, Assistant Vice President, Financial Center Manager, Bank of America and from South Carolina, Donna Moore Wesby, CEO & Co-Founder, Umoja Village.
“We want to make sure that we start bringing some of our South Carolina partners into play more on this side of the river, because we do go over there and work with Donna and NAACP and so we’re just so excited to have her on the panel,” said West.
West said the keynote speaker is just 17 years old, entrepreneur Gabby Goodwin, creator of GaBBY Bows (https://gabbybows.com), available online and in Target stores. She was named South Carolina’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration in 2022.
According to West, the U.S. Minority Business Development Agency estimates there are 2.6 million Black-owned businesses in the United States. Those account for about $150 billion in sales each year. Those businesses make up 10 percent of U.S. businesses, as well as 30 percent of all minority-owned businesses.
“And one thing that a lot of people are unaware of, Augusta has been in the top 10 cities for black-owned businesses for the last three years,” West added. “So that’s something that we need to make sure we start highlighting as well and why it’s important that we support black and minority businesses in this community.”
In addition to BBM, August is also Black Philanthropy Month. It was created by Dr. Jackie Bouvier Copeland and the Pan-African Women’s Philanthropy Network in 2011. The goal is to promote increased investment in Black communities.
On its website, SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) lists 10 ways to celebrate BBM (www.score.org/resource/blog-post/10-ways-celebrate-national-black-business-month) including Promote Black-Owned Businesses On Social Media, Patronize Black-Owned Brands Consistently, Shop at Black-Owned Businesses in Your Community, Invest in Black Women Businesses Purchase From Black Women-Owned Businesses
The GABCC summit is being held at Augusta Technical College. It begins at 6 p.m. Tickets are still available but pre-registration is requested at www.mygabc.org.
