Black Business San Antonio Hosts First Annual Black History Month Vendor Expo and Fundraiser for Davis-Scott YMCA
Update 2/24: Due to inclement weather and ensuring the safety of our vendors and community the Expo has been rescheduled for Saturday, March 5th from 12-6 at the Davis-Scott YMCA.
Black Business San Antonio will be hosting their first annual Black History Month Vendor Expo and Fundraiser this Saturday from 12-6pm at the Davis-Scott YMCA. Attendees will be treated to a plethora of Black owned business products, services and much more. Over 80 small businesses will be on site. From t-shirts, candles, clothing and food to consultants, realtors and much more. The Black Businesses of San Antonio will be on display all in one place on Expo day.
With big sponsors such as the NBA in Cleveland and H-E-B in San Antonio supporting their communities, LaRese Purnell, Clevelands’ Expo organizer shared “When you think about poverty in this community, one of the biggest wealth generators is entrepreneurship.” When the entrepreneurship of a community in poverty is given a chance for sponsorship by big business it gives us a spotlight and showcases the great businesses that are their own driving force.
Black Business San Antonio’s, Nneka Cleaver, the organizer for San Antonio’s first annual Black History Month Expo shared with us what is severely lacking in the Black Business community, “I believe for Black Business Owners, it is truly resources and owning our own buildings/land.”
The entrepreneurship and ownership of where Black Business takes place is critical to opportunity as shared by Cleaver and Purnell. They both share crucial advice for our Black Community Businesses: own your ideas, own your businesses, own your land. This is the reigning message from organizers of Black Business Expos all around the nation during this Black History Month.
“This first year has been amazing and we are excited to see our San Antonio community show up and enjoy all this Expo has to offer. We actually have over 80 small businesses who have signed up selling all kinds of awesome products and services. Elected officials, schools, community services, the Bexar County Clerk Mobile Unit and even our SA poet laureate Andrea Vocab Sanderson to name a few will be in attendance. We are having such a great response and were able to help set up a scholarship in the late Mr. Davis’ name with proceeds donated to the Davis-Scott YMCA’s annual fundraiser.” Cleaver’s innate ability to organize, influence and bring the community together is unmatched.
Cities across the nation are hosting Black Business Expos during Black History Month. San Antonio, Cleveland, Alaska, Wisconsin, Maryland, Florida amongst a few. Cleveland’s Black Business Expo fell during the Tower City’s NBA All-Star Weekend who was Cleveland’s main sponsor of the event and the expo became an official part of the weekend festivities.
The prediction that 40% of Black-owned businesses will not exist post-pandemic brings about the importance of this event. Cleaver states, “The Community coming out and utilizing the resources and purchasing from the businesses is what makes it a success.”
This type of exposure is crucial for businesses’ survival during these times, especially Black-owned businesses with the numbers showing that post-pandemic business will be hard to survive.
One of those businesses hoping to grow is ‘Not Only Tees’ owned by Annette Godfrey. Godfrey has been in business for the last decade selling made to order t-shirts, mugs and so much more although having steady clientele can be difficult. That is the importance of this Expo, to show the community all of our Black Businesses and how impactful, useful, and in-demand they are yet are underutilized as a whole. She hopes visitors can learn that people like her are here, present, and ready to help their community: “Even if something goes wrong, as long as you keep trying, you’ll be able to overcome it.”
Cleaver has seen the inequities over and over for decades as she has served the community, “Since I can remember Black Businesses often receive information on Opportunities late or the night before. Which means we are on an uneven playing field. However, this often happens because we do not have enough people sitting at the decision tables.”
“We are most often renting and/or can’t afford the necessary things that provide growth or proper start up.. i.e paid staff, budgets for different areas of business like trainings or marketing. And because we do not own our buildings/space we spend our time, energy and resources building a business under someone else’s “control’ or bum rush our personal life by doing business at home. And please understand. Working from home is way different from doing your own business from home.”
“Now, because everything is not always someone else’s fault. I believe, as a culture, we have a hard time sharing opportunities, working together, combining assets and investing in ‘our kind.” We must start to take accountability for the things we haven’t done or refuse to do.”
Cleaver is ecstatic over the participation for this Saturday’s Expo stating, “Of course it goes without saying that we cant do this without our sponsors- H-E-B, The Observer Newspaper, Davis-Scott YMCA and our vendors is what makes this event possible.”
If you missed the opportunity to register your business for this event; you may register your black business online for free at the official website and Directory: www.blackbusinessdirectorysa.com. Accessing our Black Business Directory site not only will list over 3k local black owned businesses for you to shop or secure services from but it also keeps you up to date on upcoming events, directory prints and so much more. There are multiple opportunities for Black Business Owners throughout the year and we ensure you stay up to date at all times.
We hope to see you at the Black History Month Vendor Expo this Saturday from 12 – 6pm at the Davis-Scott YMCA located at 1213 Iowa St, San Antonio, TX 78203.
