BLACK ENTERPRISE ENTREPRENEURS CONFERENCE RETURNS TO COLUMBUS, OH MAY 14-17
Hundreds of Entrepreneurs, Business Experts and Aspiring Business Owners to Gather at 2014 Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo
(New York, NY) April 16, 2014—BLACK ENTERPRISE will hold its 2014 Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo hosted by Nationwide Insurance on Wednesday, May 14 through Saturday, May 17, at the Hyatt Regency Columbus in Columbus, Ohio, with a powerhouse line-up of some of the nation’s most accomplished and celebrated entrepreneurs.
Driving the excitement and anticipation of this year’s conference is news that TDJ Enterprises’ CEO T.D. Jakes will serve as the featured headliner at the Black Enterprise Small Business Awards Luncheon. Bishop Jakes will also hold a major book signing event for his highly anticipated book Instinct: The Power to Unleash Your Unborn Drive, in the Deal Makers Expo. T.D. Jakes is world-renown as a spiritual leader, as Founder and Senior Pastor of The Potter’s House, and is also an accomplished entrepreneur of TDJ Enterprises – which has successfully engaged in businesses ranging from branded products and services, including publishing to media and entertainment, with a range of offerings from live events to film and television production. He is the first of several internationally recognized business leaders announced as headliners for this year’s conference.
This marks the second year that the three-day power conference, which annually brings together more than 1,200 of the country’s leading entrepreneurs and corporate executives, will be held in Columbus. The Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo (BEEC) is designed to provide attendees with the latest and most innovative strategies from today’s top business minds. The conference will also provide high-powered networking opportunities that are critical to attendees’ efforts to take their businesses from successful launch to growth and profitability. Business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs will gain insight about business plan development and start-up planning as well as tactical growth and investment strategies.
An annual highlight of the conference is the presentation of the nation’s top awards for African American business achievement and community involvement. The B.E. Community Empowerment Award which recognizes outstanding achievement of an individual dedicated to the economic empowerment of communities, as a champion of entrepreneurship and business growth, employment opportunities and wealth creation for African Americans, will be presented to civil rights activist and founder of Rainbow/PUSH, Reverend Jesse Jackson at the BE 100s Dinner on Friday, May 16, at the Hyatt Regency Columbus.
The Black Enterprise Trailblazer Award which will also be awarded at the BE 100s Celebration and Awards Dinner, will be presented to Don Jackson, Chairman and CEO, Central City Production, Inc. Mr. Jackson will be recognized for his pioneering and sustained achievement in business with broad and positive impact on both his industry as well as the community at large. Central City Production produces the Stella Awards annually and works in partnership with Black Enterprise for the production of the Black Enterprise Business Report and Our World with Black Enterprise which are nationally syndicated.
The producers of the ABC reality series Shark Tank will also be holding open casting during the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo in their search to discover the next successful enterprise. Entrepreneurs, inventors and innovators will have a shot at pitching their ideas for a coveted spot on the show.
The 2014 Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo boasts high-powered sessions on critical business topics such as Winning Corporate Clients, Finding Angel Investors, Social Media Marketing, Franchising, Doing Business in Africa, Business Coaching, Generating Cash for your Start-up, Using Mobile Marketing, Using Search Engine Optimization to Sell Your Goods and How to do Business with the Government.
Confirmed speakers include:
- T. D. Jakes, CEO, T.D. Jakes Enterprises
- Rev. Jesse Jackson, Founder Rainbow/PUSH
- Valerie Daniels Carter, Co- Founder, President & CEO, V&J Holdings
- Rodney Sampson, author of Kingonomics
- Amanda Miller Littlejohn, Personal Brand Strategist, AML Consulting
- Necole Parker, CEO Elocen Group
- Paul Judge, CEO, Judge Ventures, Co-founder Opportunity Ventures
- Michael Stone, Founder & Executive Director, Professional Athlete Franchise Initiative
- Edgar Smith, Founder, Chairman & CEO, World Pac Paper
- Rumia Burbank, President, VMS365
- Frantz Tiffeau, Director, Supplier Diversity, Nationwide Insurance
- Lisa Ascolese, President, Inventing A to Z
- Miriam Brewer, Director of Education & Diversity, International Franchise Association
- Kevin Hicks, Partner, Blackman & Associates
- Douglas Guy, Peer Africa
- Karl Turner, Founder ALC Foods
- Candace Shiver, MBDA
- Julia Wilson, CEO of Wilson Global Communications
- Felicia Hatcher, Owner, Feverish Gourmet Popsicles
- Arsha Jones, Proprietor, Capital City LLC( Capital City Mumbo Sauce)
- Ulysses Bridgeman, Jr., Manna Inc.,
- Eugene Cornelius, Deputy Associate Administrator, Field Operations, SBA
The 2014 Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo hosted by Nationwide Insurance is presented by General Motors and Walmart. Platinum sponsors include FedEx and JP Morgan Chase. Corporate Sponsors include Hilton Worldwide and Huntington Bank. Official Partners includes, PR Newswire, The Firm Development and Urban Trendsetters.
For updates, follow BLACK ENTERPRISE Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo page on Facebook and search the #BEEC2014 hash tag on Twitter.
