Morehouse Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (MIEC) will welcome over 100 stakeholders from across the U.S. as it hosts the 2024 Ascend National Conference.
The conference will be held from June 11 to 13, and stakeholders will represent a variety of industries, including financial institutions, education, prime contracting, and leadership supporting entrepreneurs of color. According to a press release provided to BLACK ENTERPRISE, the innovative conference aims to address a plan for long-term sustainability for underrepresented businesses and communities.
With a jam-packed itinerary including interactive training sessions, engaging discussions, and collaborative workshops led by subject matter experts, the concise sessions will serve as supportive efforts to gain innovative solutions
for the future of these businesses to grow sustainably. “Despite minority-owned employer firms contributing $1.48 trillion and 9.43 million jobs per year to the U.S. economy, there is a significant disparity in inequitable access to educational resources and capital and procurements opportunities for business owners of color,” MIEC Executive Director Dr. Tiffany Bussey said.“It is through our partnership with Ascend – a national network of highly qualified business educators, successful entrepreneurs, and inclusive organizations – that businesses of color gain the knowledge, resources, and connections needed to scale and grow middle market diverse business in underrepresented communities.”
With the valuable resources and information obtained at the conference, the results will create a pipeline of strategies for Ascend Core Cities and National Cohort.
MEIC has served as an added resource for students of Morehouse College, an Atlanta-based HBCU, and neighboring communities to foster innovation and entrepreneurial leadership since 2004 – making it the perfect location to host the conference. As a technology startup and small business pre-accelerator supporter, Ascend Atlanta was launched in 2017 in collaboration with JPMorgan Chase. Since its establishment, Ascend has serviced over 125 minority-led companies within the Metro Atlanta area — raising $5.5 in capital and $13.5M in revenue across all participating industries, including creating 278 jobs.
Morehouse and MEIC have always supported the growth of diverse and Black-owned businesses in and outside of Atlanta. In May 2024, according to Georgia Public Broadcasting, the school announced a partnership with Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to create programs designed to help Atlanta business owners enter airport concessions.
Under MEIC’s leadership, the first class
of the Airport Concessioner Accelerator Program welcomed 20 business owners into the eight-week program. Bussey described the program as more practical than a degree course. “Our intent and our goal is at the end of the program, not that they become concessionaires, but that they understand what it takes to be a concessionaire and then make that strategic decision: ‘Is this for my business or is it not?'” she said.Cohort participants will learn skills related to securing capital, marketing, and scaling their business to succeed in the airport environment.
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