By Shanderia Posey and Diamond Williams
The Mississippi Link
The second Annual IMS/Trensek Jackson Black Business Expo will take place from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Tougaloo College Owens Health and Wellness Center.
Vendors will be service-based metro Jackson black-owned businesses.
The expo will include two breakout sessions – one titled “Doing Business with the City of Jackson” and a second session on IMS/Trensek’s two new mobile game apps. A financial literacy workshop is also planned. Free volumes of the Jackson Black Pages directory, which contains more than 300 listings, will be available. Black-owned businesses from the metro Jackson community will display, sell merchandise and network with patrons.
“It is a wonderful opportunity for vendors and networking,” said Funmi “Queen” Franklin, a volunteer coordinator and steering committee member of the expo. Franklin explained that expo attendees can meet vendors in all types of businesses such as party planning, real estate and marketing/promotions.
One purpose of the expo is to provide promotion for the vendors and present an arena in which the business owners can network with each other. It also encourages black people to spend money in their own communities.
“Black people recycle our dollars 10 times less than the Latino community, 15 times less than the Asian community and 20 times less than the Jewish community,” said Franklin. “The expo builds unity. If we start working together it will bring about a unified mindset and the ‘crab-in-a-barrel’ syndrome will decrease.”
Last year’s expo had more than 1,000 attendees and several vendors participated.
Tracey Wells-Harmon, a returning vendor, is a sub-owner of It Works, a wellness and lifestyle company. Wells-Harmon is ready for this year’s expo.
“Last year, I was able to do a lot of networking and branding for myself and I’m excited about this year.” She has managed her business for a year and half. “I absolutely love it. I help people get healthy and wealthy,” she said.
Matthew Haynes, owner of Blue Skyz Still Waters Massage Therapy, is also a returning vendor. He’s been in business for five years, but at his current location, 4460 Hwy. 80 West, for three years.
Haynes’ business benefitted from last year’s expo in more ways than one.
“It definitely provided more exposure and I’ve gotten more referrals. That probably may not have happened without the expo,” Haynes said.
Last year, he hired one person to help him offer massages to patrons at the event. This year he’s hiring two people so patrons won’t have to wait as long in line. Furthermore, he was able to network with other vendors for services he may need to grow his business. One of his goals is to have his own building one day.
“It’s kind of amazing,” he says of the expo. “I’ve never seen so many black businesses together. I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Supporting black-owned businesses is what Jackson Black Pages is all about. Monthly business mixers are held typically on the third Thursday of each month. The locations vary. The mixers include presentations and offer business owners information they can use to sustain their companies, according to Franklin. Business owners can register their company’s information for free on the website jacksonblackpages.com.
Sponsors of this year’s expo include the City of Jackson, Tougaloo College, BDay 99.1FM, the Jackson Advocate, The Mississippi Link and Outfront publications, HouseOne Media, Ourglass Media Group, Thick and Proud Sisters and Extraordinary Business Solutions.
For more information, email jacksonblackpages@gmail.com or call (601) 675-2596.
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