Invest Atlanta in partnership with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ office, hosted a panel discussion, “Surviving and Thriving through Economic Uncertainty” on Wednesday, Feb. 1 at The Gathering Spot.
The focus of the panel was on providing expertise in strategizing as a small business, particularly during this time of economic flux and uncertainty.
“We are excited to have business owners who value our city. We love our city, and really are trying to see what it takes to survive in this uncertain economy,” said Dawn Arnold, executive vice president & COO at Invest Atlanta.
The panel was made up of Black entrepreneurs and corporate leaders including Janelle Williams, Ron Busby Sr, president, and CEO of U.S Black Chambers, INC, Derek Ellington, head of small business of Well Fargo, Kiyomi Rollins, founder The Ke’nekt cooperative community and Erika M. Smith, manager at Techspark metro at Microsoft. The conversation was moderated by Director, Community and Public Affairs at WSB-TV Condace Pressley.
This group of highly valued individuals gave personal accounts of how they are trying to drive the small business and black economy forward and gave individual scenarios on how they made it to the top or how their business benefited from the advice they were giving.
From imparting CFI knowledge to the history of Black business, to giving enough banking knowledge to last a lifetime- or the ideal goal to last generations after.
During the event ATLinBusiness Marketplace was announced. ATLinBusiness Marketplace is a new, specialized digital marketplace for Atlanta-based enterprises to sell and market to other Atlanta-based businesses and corporations.
This is all apart of Dickens’ initiative to make Atlanta a thriving metropolis for the rest of the world to recognize.