Hundreds of Black entrepreneurs, innovators and creatives gathered in Atlanta on Monday for a three-day summit. Hosted by Forbes, the BLK Summit is an opportunity for business owners to connect and learn how to grow their businesses equitably, opening the door for more black entrepreneurs.
Forbes journalist Jabari Young runs the conference, and says finding trusted funding sources for black-owned businesses is a consistent struggle.
“To show black entrepreneurs, black leaders, black executives … to be able to just recognize those people and to build our ecosystem and introducing them to people who don’t know them… it really is helpful,” Young said.
He says the youth are also getting started on their entrepreneurship journey.
A prime example is Zoe Oli, a 12-year-old CEO of Beautiful Curly Me, an Atlanta-based toy and media company with the mission of building confidence in young women.
“The thing that keeps me going the most is just knowing the impact I’m having, seeing those customers loving their dolls, the little girls telling me that they’re feeling more confident and just knowing the impact I am making on other lives is really what keeps me going,” said Oli, who also served as a speaker at the summit.
In addition to the young CEO, participants heard from celebrity entrepreneurs such as NBA Star Russell Westbrook, Atlanta music producer Mike Will Made It, and Grammy Award-winning actress and singer Fantasia.
“Starting the business, I didn’t know it was gonna be as hard as it is, but it’s been a journey.” said Fantasia. “You have to forever be a student. You will never know everything, and I don’t want to know it all. I will learn from some people in this room. You will learn some things from me, and that’s called connections.”
A major resource at the event, offered by global investment banking company Goldman Sachs, is a free business education program called ‘One Million Black Women: Black in Business’, which was designed to equip Black female entrepreneurs with the tools necessary to grow their businesses.
“Atlanta is a very important market for Goldman Sachs,” said Jessica Taylor, national director of One Million Black Women. “We have an incredible office of colleagues here based in Atlanta. And we’ve invested, you know, over $340 million through 1 million black women thus far.”
Similar to Taylor, Cameron Kirkland, CEO of photography company Cam Kirk Studios, believes that we are only seeing the beginning of the talents Atlanta entrepreneurs have to showcase.
“[The summit is] promising, it’s is gonna continue to expand and grow as more resources become available to us,” he said. “[The summit will continue to offer] more opportunities for us to let our creativity shine through.”
