This year, the Ivy Entrepreneur Institute held The Real
Black Friday Expo and Bus Tour, featuring 46 Black-owned
businesses. Thirty seven local businesses such as computer
support, natural skincare, a seamstress, jewelry designers,
clothiers, comics and lemonade loaded into the New Life
Center, located at 1430 W. Bancroft Street’ as vendors to
welcome shoppers throughout the day.
“The overall goal, when we set out with this event, was to
create more awareness about African American owned
businesses as well as infuse cash into these businesses,”
said Erik Johnson, founder of this event.
Free to the public, the expo was open from 9:00 a.m. until
5:00 p.m., with a bus tour chartered by Childers, to nine
local businesses. This gave black Toledoans the opportunity
to learn about and support businesses they otherwise may not
have known about. Sponsored by The Ivy Entrepreneur
Institute, the Black Friday Expo and Bus Tour was also held
to give business owners a connection to one another and to
an organization that can assist business owners at any stage
of their businesses.
Johnson said, “Our whole focus is helping underrepresented
individuals start, sustain and grow their businesses and we
do that by way of the validation of ideas, the development
of business plans and disseminating information as well as
hosting educational seminars and events that provide access
to knowledge.”
Amber S. Hawkins, owner of Your Computer Needs LLC commented
“Thank you all so much for having the event. I must say hats
off to you all. I've vended a good number of events, but
I'll admit this one far exceeded my expectations! If I
wasn't vending, I definitely would have gone on the bus
trip. Thank you all for giving us the opportunity.”
Black expos are more common in larger urban areas such as
Chicago, Cleveland and Indianapolis where the Indiana Black
Expo is held annually in the Summer. Indiana’s Black Expo
was founded in 1970 and just completed its 48th year and now
welcomes over 200,000 attendees from around the U.S. In
Toledo, the establishment of an event like this is right on
time as more locals are increasingly conscious of whom they
support and where their dollars go.
The Ivy Entrepreneur Institute was founded in 2016 and is
located at 420 Madison Ave. Suite 510. To learn more about
how to get started on a new business or to gain support and
information for an existing business, contact IEI at
419-989-6771 or visit www.ivinstitute.org. |