African business expo in Worcester eyes increased attendance for second year
Photo I Courtesy of the Massachusetts Organization of African Descendants
A group of attendees from the 2023 New England African Business Expo
For the second year in a row, Worcester will host the New England African Business Expo, an event aiming to provide Black and African entrepreneurs with the education and tools needed to start and maintain a successful business.
The free expo will be held from 1-5 p.m. Saturday at Worcester State University.
The event features a keynote from Chioma Ugochukwu, senior vice president for academic affairs at Anna Maria College in Paxton. The expo will also include panel discussions, workshops, and networking.
The expo is an initiative of the Massachusetts Organization of African Descendants, a Worcester-based coalition working to address systemic inequities the city’s African community faces while supporting the socio-economic, cultural, and educational interests of its members.
“The goal was for us to come together under one umbrella, because Africa is a huge continent and a lot of residents live here in the U.S. and Massachusetts,” MOAD President Jermoh Kamara said. “There was a need for us to come together.”
When MOAD launched in 2020, it worked with partnership specialists from the U.S. Census Bureau to help get members of the community accounted for. Through that outreach, Kamara came in contact with African business owners who reported not having the skills to be able to apply for funds provided by President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. She found even for those who were able to apply, very few received funding compared to what Kamara saw others in the wider Worcester community being offered.
Observing that discrepancy was a catalyst for creating the first 2023 New England African Business Expo. The inaugural year’s event saw more than 60 people participate, with this year’s event looking to scale up, said Kamara.
She hopes attendees will leave the expo with connections and skill sets to support their businesses at any and all stages they are in.
“When we do support small businesses, here in the city of Worcester, we are increasing and bettering the economic standpoint of the city,” said Kamara. “Because those small businesses will be able to hire people who are here in the city of Worcester or in the commonwealth of Massachusetts … and that can boost the economic stability of Worcester.”
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments