Creating New Opportunities
business, chamber of commerce, minorities,
The Jacksonville-Onslow Chamber of Commerce began a Minority Business Services program a few years ago, thinking it was a good idea.
Well, it has been. In fact, two of the minority business owners that became involved with the program are currently negotiating with Walmart and Sam’s Club to get their individual products onto the shelves of those retail giants.
“This chamber program actually came about when a woman named Linda Richardson moved to Jacksonville-Onslow from Washington, D.C., where she had been involved in a lot of minority enterprise development,” says Mona Padrick, president of the Jacksonville-Onslow Chamber of Commerce. “Linda arrived in Jacksonville-Onslow to develop a home-based business, and she eventually became a chamber member, then helped us start our own minority business program.”
Richardson was so good at developing the Minority Business Services initiative that Padrick hired her to be a part-time chamber employee to specifically help with this service that the chamber now offers.
“Linda has helped us introduce an annual Minority Enterprise Development Day, which began in 2006 and always features about 200 people in attendance,” Padrick says. “There is always a big turnout of minority business owners and managers at MED Day, and it has become an excellent opportunity to network and promote companies and services.”
So who exactly is a minority business owner? Padrick says the Jacksonville-Onslow chamber identifies these business owners as blacks, Asians, Hispanics and women.
“By the way, in 2008 the chamber also established a Minority Business Roundtable, which is an organized, informative meeting that takes place quarterly at the chamber office in Jacksonville,” Padrick says. “We get guest speakers to talk with minority business owners, offering information and answering questions. In fact, one of the sessions involved how to initiate business with the corporate sector, and that’s how the Walmart/Sam’s Club scenario came to be for the two minority owners who are presently in negotiations.”
Past roundtable sessions have featured seminars on topics such as top marketing strategies and how to register and compete for government contracts.
“With Camp Lejeune located right here in our community, there is a lot of government contractor and sub-contractor work that becomes available,” Padrick says. “Several minority business owners learned a lot at that particular roundtable, and I know of at least one local electrician whose business has already benefited from government contracts.”
The quarterly Minority Business Roundtable get-togethers are open to the public (chamber or non-chamber members), and usually 40-50 people are in attendance.
“Give Linda Richardson a call here at the chamber at (910) 347-3141 for more information,” Padrick says. “She is the perfect person to talk with about it. After all, it was Linda who got the whole successful Minority Business Services drive started here in Jacksonville-Onslow.”
Story by Kevin Litwin
