According to the Census, 12% of companies in southeast North Carolina are minority-owned. Also in line with the Census, 21% of the inhabitants is non-white and non-Hispanic. Similarly, 37% of companies are woman-owned and 52% of the inhabitants are girls.
These statistics present a disconnect. How can we transfer the statistics in our area so there’s a 1:1 correlation of enterprise possession to inhabitants? How would possibly we stage out the taking part in area to make sure that equal alternatives for fulfillment can be found to everybody? After all, entrepreneurship has the potential to be a robust equalizer. Several organizations within the Cape Fear area, together with Cape Fear YWCA Living the Dream Center for Entrepreneurship, Genesis Block, and the Kairos Empowerment Center are mission-driven to deal with these statistics. However, every of us can play a component.
One approach is to assist present minority- and woman-owned companies by buying their services and products. Easy sufficient! Another approach is to have a good time the success of thriving enterprise homeowners. A 3rd approach is to share and take part in instructional and networking alternatives so everybody has the identical means to begin and develop a thriving enterprise.
Everyone in our neighborhood (together with you!) is invited to hitch in celebrating, studying, and networking on the Cape Fear Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week from October 4-8, 2021. With greater than 30 digital and in-person occasions, there’s something for everybody. Register for occasions right here immediately.
Cape Fear Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week actions are a part of the nationwide observance of Minority Enterprise Development Week, which was created by presidential proclamation in 1983. Our native occasion sequence started in 2015 on the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) and has been coordinated with the assistance of neighborhood companions to acknowledge the financial influence of minority- and women-owned companies. It is a weeklong occasion by the neighborhood, for the neighborhood. It is being spearheaded this 12 months by the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce.
Below is an inventory of the intensive alternatives that you will see that on the Cape Fear MED Week web site. When scripting this column, I thought-about solely offering just a few examples however with one extraordinary occasion after one other, how would I begin to shorten this record?
Monday, October 4
– Video Marketing to Effortlessly Sell Your Products and Services
– Creating Positive Workspaces
– Optimizing Your Website for More Traffic
– Stabilization and Growth for Your Food Business
– Contracting 101: Selling to the Government
– Your First Follower: A Primer for Start-Up Founders
– Minorities in Marine Science and Ocean Entrepreneurship
Tuesday, October 5
– Coalition Roundtables
– Google for Your Business Mini-Summit
– Recursos Gratuitos para Desarrollar Ideas de Negocios en la Región de Cape Fear
– Positioning Mental Health in your Business Plan for Success
– YouTube Advertising to Scale Your Business on a Budget
– “Are Your Materials 4 Months Delayed? Is your Supply Chain Broken?”: A dialogue of Supply Chain Needs and Anomalies
– Put The National Resources of the US Small Business Administration To Work for YOUR Business (It’s simpler than you assume!)
– Intentional Collisions
Wednesday, October 6
– Cultivating Executive Presence for Success
– 1 Million Cups Wilmington
– Social Entrepreneurship Panel: Growing Your Business and Your Society
– Reskilling and Upskilling: A Primer for the Future
– 21 Ways to Leverage Word of Mouth Marketing in 2021
– Know Your Numbers
– De una thought, a una empresa: conversación con emprendedores Latinos de la región de Cape Fear
– Women: Find your Professional Tribe!
– Anza Product Launch & Networking
Thursday, October 7
– Using the Tier 1, 2 & 3 Strategy To Increase Minority Participation in Construction
– Préstamos para Pequeños Negocios Latinos
– 2021 WilmingtonBiz Conference & Expo
Friday, October 8
– Diversity & Equity within the Workplace and Employee Engagement
– Strategy Roundtable Sessions: How companies can correctly plan to scale and maintain their development
– Leading Effective Meetings – Essential Skills For Today’s Ambitious Leader
– Digital Marketing: How to Get More Done in Less Time for Less Money
– Business Development Opportunities Through US Small Business Administration Contracting Programs of 8a and HUBZone
– Genesis Block Demo Day
Register for Cape Fear Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week occasions right here immediately. Celebrate, study, and community. Also, remember to purchase one thing from a minority- and woman-owned enterprise that week and each week.
Heather McWhorter empowers people and communities to prosper by way of entrepreneurship, innovation, and sustainability. She is the Interim Director of the UNCW Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) and the Regional Director of the UNCW SBTDC. For details about how CIE connects, leverages, and ignites regional strengths and college experience to create modern and entrepreneurial options to international challenges, please go to uncw.edu/cie/.
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