Black Business Expo and Financial Empowerment Summit to be held Friday in downtown Flint

FLINT, MI- A five-hour, free to the public summit and business expo event will take place this Friday in downtown Flint.

The Black Business Expo Financial Empowerment Summit presented by Chennelle Dismond will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, July 22, at the Flint Farmers’ Market, 300 E. 1st St.

This event will be showcasing a variety of local vendors and organizations. The showcase will include healthcare & wellness organizations, nonprofit agencies, restaurant owners & food truck operators, catering & unique food prep services, business resource distributors, clothing designers, merchant service providers, authors/publishers, IT/Digital/ Media Support Experts, advisors/consultants, business educators & coaches, and more.

Dismond, who has a background in the financial realm, put together the event. She found inspiration, revamped and inherited the whole concept of the Black Business Expo from the late Superintendent Quintin Marshall Senior.

After he passed away in 2018, Dismond said she was in the mindset where she wanted to revise the whole concept, so she stayed in contact with his wife and brought it back with a focus on finance.

“I understand the dynamics behind the perceived lack of resources really being a matter of lack of knowledge of the resources that one needs, and how to identify and access,” she said. “This is a resource rich community and I’ve been here as a financial professional and in community for over 25 years. So, I know what everybody doesn’t know.”

The summit aims to inform the community about the awareness of minority-owned businesses through different financial education topics such as “How Do I Get Started,” “How to Pivot in a Pandemic,” “Show Me the Money in My Backyard,” and “Taking My Business to The NEXT LEVEL.”

There will also be a youth entrepreneur corner where youth entrepreneurs 17 and under can showcase their products and services for free.

“I want to showcase that you’re never too young to get started and you’re never too old,” said Dismond. “I want to be able to showcase opposite ends of the spectrum and see what that looks like when you follow your dreams.”

The day’s events will include speakers, presentations, and vendors.

“I’m looking for every person that walks in that door that they walk away with something, even if they don’t find that the information was most beneficial to them,” said Dismond. “This is what it says. It’s a financial empowerment summit, an opportunity for you to come into contact with those entities in your community that will help you to grow and develop that business that may have already come to fruition, or that you’re just thinking about.

“This is where you find the money in your backyard when you think that there’s no resources. This is about education. At the heart of this, education is where I hang my head.”

For more information on this event, contact [email protected].

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