Brian Ware understands the importance of mentorship.
“I’ve had a lot of mentors,” he said.
It can make all the difference to an aspiring entrepreneur or small business, yet it can be difficult to track down mentors in a world that is still struggling to remake itself in the wake of the disruption of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
That was part of the reason Ware and fellow executive director Jayton Harps decided to co-create the Black Entrepreneurs Leaders & Learners nonprofit organization, which is holding its fifth annual Business and Government Contracting Summit at the UC San Diego Park & Market in downtown San Diego this Friday and Saturday, June 27 and 28.
The event is free and open to anyone. It is intended to connect entrepreneurs and small business owners at any stage in their careers with contracting opportunities and offer information on what makes a winning bid for a government contract.
“It’s just another way to diversify someone’s business and bring in streams of income to remain sustainable,” Ware said.
He added that diversification also benefits local government agencies.
“Over the years we’ve been a part of these calls with the city, with the county, with different agencies, and they talk about the need to find diverse businesses because they have goals they are trying to hit… oftentimes they’re woefully underrepresented, or they don’t hit the targets that they’re looking to hit with our minority businesses, especially Black businesses in our community in San Diego.”
The BELL event is intended to bolster Black entrepreneurship, as well as offer opportunities to communities in San Diego that have often been economically marginalized. However, its co-creators emphasize that the event is open to anybody.
The creators also said that they hope to emphasize the benefits of small business and minority certifications, and offer ways that entrepreneurs can navigate a world that is only becoming more complicated and chaotic.
But complicated and chaotic is not the same as impossible, said Jayton Harps.
“There’s still going to be a need for diversity when it comes to government contracts,” Harps said. “It’s just, again, how important it is to have these things for the long term, not just for the short term.”
“Who else is going to do it? Who else is going to stand up for it?”
The event will include representatives from the city and county, the Port of San Diego, the Small Business Development Center, California High Speed Rail, San Diego Unified School District and more.
More information about the event and BELL can be found here.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Black Entrepreneurs Leaders & Learners to host annual contracting summit )
Also on site :