This week on The Urban Business Roundtable, UBR Contributor Renita Young speaks with brokerage firm founder and multimillionaire Chris Gardner, whose autobiography, The Pursuit of Happyness, was brought to life on the silver screen by Hollywood box-office star Will Smith in 2006. Gardner’s journey from homeless single father to investment industry mogul is one of the most inspirational stories of our time. After a period of homelessness, Gardner started Chicago-based and NASD registered private stock brokerage firm Gardner Rich & Co. LLC with just $10,000 and one piece of furniture in 1987.
VIDEO: One-on-One with Chris Gardner at the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference in Orlando
VIDEO: Chris Gardner Slice of Life profile on Our World with Black Enterprise
Gardner joins the roundtable to share deeper insights into his experience as one of the most fascinating entrepreneurs of his generation, as well as insights from his latest book, Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Going From Where You Are To Where You Want To Be. For more inspiration from Gardner, read “When The Tough Get Going” at BlackEnterprise.com.
Also on this week’s edition of The Urban Business Roundtable, our Executive Producer TaQuoya Kennedy speaks with Marino Orlandi, vice president of business banking for Fifth Third Bank. Orlandi joins the roundtable to talk about how entrepreneurs can build strong banking relationships to sustain their businesses and establish long-term profitability. In addition to managing a team of business bankers focused on working with business owners with up to $25 million in annual revenues, Orlandi is president of the Chicago’s Chatham Business Association and is active with the Chicago Urban League Entrepreneurship Center.
In addition, every week on UBR, you’ll get motivation and inspiration from author and entrepreneurial icon Farrah Gray, a weekly wrap-up of business news from USA Today Business Correspondent Charisse Jones, our Patient Investor Report from Ariel Investments and key economic intelligence for small business owners from our UBR Economists Derrick Collins and Rasheed Carter. And finally, I’ll talk about why entrepreneurs need to think strategically and plan now for the meetings, conferences and industry events they will attend to advance their business in 2011. I’ll also be sharing a special discount code that will allow UBR listeners to knock more than 50% off of the cost of registration for the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference, slated for May 22-25, 2011 in Atlanta.
If you have a question you want answered or a topic you want addressed on The Urban Business Roundtable, send me an e-mail at edmonda@blackenterprise.com or to me at Twitter or Facebook.
Alfred Edmond Jr. is the senior VP/editor-at-large of Black Enterprise and the host of the Urban Business Roundtable, a weekly radio show, sponsored by Ariel Investments, airing CST Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. on WVON-AM 1690, the Talk of Chicago. You can also listen live online at WVON.com. Check back each Wednesday for The UBR Morning Post, which features additional resources, advice and information from and about the topics, entrepreneurs and experts featured on the show.