Entrepenuer and author Sunny Martin will keynote the 7th annual OhioMBE Awards. The OhioMBE Awards recognizes Ohio’s top small businesses and their advocates. The networking luncheon will be held on Thursday, Oct. 28 at the Columbus Zoo. Tickets are available online at OhioMBEAwards.eventbrite.com
Mr. Martin has always defined his primary life mission as making a positive difference to enhance, uplift, and economically empower communities towards entrepreneurship.
Sunny has self-‐published (64) sixty-‐four books in a span of thirty-‐years. Very few publishers can lay claim to hosting book release receptions at such notable venues as Staples Center in Los Angeles, Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio, the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, or at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.
Mr. Martin is a Kentucky Colonel, and he is the founder and former CEO of Who’s Who Publishing Company. Throughout his twenty-‐ six years of leadership, he led the firm to expand its unique brand of Who’s Who directories out to twenty-‐seven metro cities across America. His firm came to be recognized as the largest African-‐American directory publisher in the U. S. In February 2009, Mr. Martin successfully sold the firm resulting in a multi-‐million-‐dollar deal transaction.
Of particular note, Mr. Martin has also produced award-‐wining television specials on diversity and inclusion, and has enjoyed consulting many Fortune 500 firms on matters of outreach and engagement for attracting minority consumers. Additionally, he has personally negotiated well over $40-‐million dollars in sponsorship underwriting for signature events reaching underserved audiences in numerous markets.
Sunny has received much recognition throughout the publishing industry. He has also garnered recognition from (4) four U.S. Presidents with invitations to the White House on many occasions. President Barack Obama said of Mr. Martin, “I’d like to personally congratulate Sunny on all his work to showcase the positive achievements of African-Americans nationwide.” Just a few years back, President Jimmy Carter held a special tribute reception in Mr. Martin‘s honor at the Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta, Georgia to acknowledge his outstanding achievements in publishing.
The OhioMBE Awards are hosted by the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium. It is sponsored by Telhio Credit Union, the City of Columbus Dept. of Development, Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority, Kokosing Industrial, HH&M Masonry and the Ohio Business Development Center.
