Black Enterprise executives, entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and government officials, including Mayor Vi Lyles, assembled at the Park Expo and Conference Center, to announce the plans for the 23rd annual Entrepreneurs Summit June 6-9, 2018 at the Charlotte Convention Center.

“We have grown to appreciate the Queen City as one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities with a positive business climate for companies, both large and small. It represents a major financial center as well as as a nascent tech hub offering opportunities for startups as well as established firms” said Black Enterprise President and CEO Earl G. Graves Jr.

The three day Summit seeks to facilitate the advancement of black-owned companies through sessions that emphasize gaining access to capital, building capacity, the application of new technology, and big data to customize products and services. The Summit will create opportunities for the 13,000 black owned businesses in Charlotte proper.

Mayor Vi Lyles, who made history last November as the first African American woman to be elected mayor of Charlotte, wholeheartedly embraced the Summit.

“To be able to host the Summit, partnering with an organization that promotes the concept of economic mobility internationally in all that it publishes and in the events that it produces, is a true privilege for our great city” said mayor Vi Lyles.

Rep. Alma Adams, the Democrat who represents North Carolina’s 12th congressional district, also welcomed BE, stating that the Summit will provide a valuable platform for the creation and expansion of African American business ownership, in the metro area and nation as a whole.

Lu Yarbrough, associate vice president for Enterprise Diverse & Cause Marketing for Nationwide Insurance, said the company “is proud of our long-standing partnership with Black Enterprise and the opportunity to serve for the eighth year as the host sponsor to recognize and support entrepreneurs today and in the future.”

Toyota and FedEx Express are other major corporate partners. Visit Charlotte, the city’s visitor and convention bureau will also serve as a sponsor of the Summit, which will showcase different businesses, institutions, restaurants and other features of the city.

Charlotte City Council member James Mitchell, chair of the energetic, robust local steering and ambassador committees, has been one of the Summit’s most vocal advocates over the past few months. In fact, he used the press conference as an opportunity to award Vanessa Vaughn, CEO of Charlotte-based Asfalis, a crisis management consulting firm, with a check to bolster its operations as well as a paid registration. He asserted: “We are lucky to have BE here and we want to show BE and the nation that this is an outstanding climate to promote black entrepreneurship.”

Charlotte City Council member James Mitchell, from left, Mayor Vi Lyles, Asfalis Founder and President Vanessa Vaughn, and Black Enterprise President and CEO Earl Graves Jr. hold an oversized check at a press conference announcing the 23rd annual Entrepreneurs Summit June 6-9. Mitchell presented the check to Vaughn to cover her registration to the summit.

Vanessa Vaughn, Founder and President of Asfalis, said “I am honored to be a part of an opportunity that will increase economic mobility for the Charlotte community. Charlotte has been instrumental in the growth of Asfalis and we are looking forward to the Summit in June.

For more information on attending the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Summit, go here.

Source: Black Enterprise