Carla Ladd and Elbra Wedgeworth
MRBES Teaches the Values of Networking & Believing in Dreams
Keynote Speaker Rod Smith
By Khaleel Herbert
Carla Ladd and Tim King
Photos by Dwayne Glapion and Khaleel Herbert
Carla Ladd and Elbra Wedgeworth
The 12th Annual Mountain
Region Business Economic Summit (MRBES) kicked off at 8 a.m. June 2, at the Denver Marriott City Center. The Summit is where big and small business owners meet, network and attend workshops to improve their businesses in the Rocky Mountain area. A new attraction to the Summit included a Minority Business Town Hall session, where a panel of various minorities discussed their businesses and answered questions from audience members. Some of the key workshops in the Summit included: “Turn Your Side Hustle into Big Business,” “Doing Business with the City & County of Denver” and “RETIREMENT: Make Bold Financial Moves NOW to Retire in Style.” There was also a hiring fair. Networking Advice from the Minority Business Town Hall
A Q&A session took place during the Minority Business Town Hall, the first session of the Summit. The panel included Rosy Aburto McDonough, director of the Minority Business Office of Colorado; Amy Ford, director of communications for the Colorado Department of Transportation; Willie Franklin, manager of the CH2M Hill Construction Company; and Tanya Davis, manager of Denver Small Business Opportunity for the City and County of Denver. Small business owners in the front row also gave their insights during the Q&A. The first question asked was, how do small businesses get in front of opportunities and how do you build relationships to access those opportunities? “Often times at events like these, or different outreach events that any of the agencies may have, you’re gonna have that opportunity to go up and say, ‘Hello, my name is Tanya, and I do this as a small business,’” Davis answers. “You’ll have that opportunity to be able to speak to them at that point. Let them know what it is that
Urban Leadership Foundation Participants
you do, and then when they have a job that comes up, they may think of your organization and what you do.” Franklin says you should have a plan of who you want to speak to and what you want to say when networking. “I’ve gone to outreach events where individuals are running from person to person to person trying to meet everybody in that room. So they get a quick 30-second time with that individual and not really establishing that relationship,” Franklin says. “What I’ve seen that’s worked very well is be strategic in the individuals you want to speak with. Do some homework before you get there. Understand what your niche is and how you fit with that organization and start that discussion there.” The second question directed to Marsha Nelson, a participation specialist for Mortenson Construction, asked when you think of the small businesses that are successful, what is
it about them that had contributed to their success? “When you’re coming to outreach events and you’re meeting us for the first time, you may be a company that does drywall,” Nelson says. “If you do drywall, you have to understand that I have probably 50 other companies coming right behind you that do the same thing. So how can you stand out differently, so that I might remember who you are? Make yourself stand out. “The other thing is, you absolutely know your scope of work–what your business provides from A to Z,” Nelson adds. “You understand the market that you work in. Maybe you are a drywaller, but there is a difference from putting up drywall in a hotel versus a hospital.” Dreaming and Believing at the Legacy Awards Luncheon
The Summit’s Legacy Awards Luncheon followed the Closing the Gap: African-Americans in Energy
Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – July 2017
8
session and workshops. TaRhonda Thomas from 9 News and Senen “SLiM” Rodriguez from FLO 107.1 were the Mistress and Master of Ceremonies throughout the luncheon. Mayor Michael Hancock and Governor John Hickenlooper gave remarks. Several Awards were presented during the luncheon. Lincoln Hills Cares received the Legacy Award for Service to the Community and the Honorable Elbra Wedgeworth received the Women in Leadership & Management Award. The Summit’s 2017 Visionary Award went to Tim King, CEO and Founder of Urban Prep Academies, the all-male high schools in Chicago. These high schools were made to help African-American men thrive and continue on to college. “Urban Prep is one of the only minority-founded and operated charter school organizations in the whole country. We were found by a Black man and we serve young Black men and Black boys,” King says while accepting his award. “Many people hear about Urban Prep and they think that we somehow just sprung to life and the success just happened, but it didn’t just happen.” King said only one in 40 Black boys, who went to public schools in Chicago, earn a college degree. He wanted to target this population. He went to the Chicago School Board to apply to open a school for young Black men with a 1000-page application. By the end of the three-month process of interviews and reviews, King was turned down. “I spent another year of researching, another year of writing, another year of perfecting this idea of what is possible for young Black boys. And I came back a year later,” King says. “I submitted another application that was even longer. They told us no again. These are the same folks who were leading a school district where 2.5 percent of the Black boys were making it through college. They were telling me and my friends and colleagues we couldn’t do this.”