An Entrepreneurial Spirit

Black Business Expo doubles in size

» From hairstyling to home cooking, longtime business owners to new startups, entrepreneurial spirit was on full display Saturday, Feb. 18, during the fourth Black Business Expo at Columbia College.

Sixty vendors from around mid-Missouri set up shop as about 450 community members checked out their products and services. This year’s expo was the largest such event yet at CC — and by a wide margin, more than doubling the number of businesses from the last edition.

“Columbia College is a pillar in the community,” says beauty salon owner and Columbia City Council member Roy Lovelady. “To have a pillar in the community have a vested interest in the Black and brown community definitely says a lot. It’s neat being out here. It’s a great experience and a networking opportunity to get out and see other Black businesses that I might not have known about.”

The annual expo is organized by the college’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with the purpose of shining a spotlight on minority-owned small businesses.

“The Black Business Expo represents the hope, the strength, the partnership and the spirit of the Beloved Community teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” says Alejandra Gudiño, the college’s director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. “For us at Columbia College, it represents the possibility, the opportunity and the honor to host and uplift these business owners’ voices and efforts.”

Roy Lovelady, owner of 360 Star Styling Studio, offered hairstyling to attendees during the Black Business Expo, organized by the college’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. “I think this is a great event,” Lovelady says. “I wish it could happen more. As people talk about it and ask how to become part of it, it’s becoming more well-known.”

The college compiled a directory of participating businesses and named the book in honor of longtime community leader James “Jim” Whitt, who passed away in 2021. Annelle Whitt it and ask how to become part of it, it’s becoming more continues her husband’s legacy by running the James & Annelle Whitt Entrepreneurial Development Foundation.

She hosted a table on behalf of the foundation, which provides seed grants to minority- and women-owned small businesses in addition to offering workshops, mentoring and coaching.

“There are a lot of young folks who have tables set up here. What many of them are lacking is capital,” she says. “To be in this environment and say, ‘Hey, we can help you in that regard,’ that’s the (priority). Exposure and getting your brand out there, getting yourself out there.” –KG