Highlights


Maximizing Profit for Minority and Small Businesses

We hosted a virtual event that focused on education, information, and resources available to small businesses and minority-owned businesses including; Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, women-owned, and LGBTQ. We partnered with the Foundation for Business Equity, MA Minority Business Development Agency, FORGE, and Interise Inc to provide insights into topics such as: How to access growth capital, Developing advice networks to help your business, Moving your start-up to the next level; connecting with a manufacturer, Scaling your Business & more.

Meet The Speakers

Laura Teicher

Laura is Executive Director at FORGE, a 501(c)3 helping innovators navigate the journey from physical prototype through commercialization and impact at scale. FORGE focuses uniquely on providing manufacturing-focused resources, education, and connections to regional supply chains. The 500+ startups supported by FORGE to date boast an incredible survival rate of over 90%, and FORGE’s connections have led to over $34 million in known contracts and purchase orders to make innovative products locally. Laura’s background includes several years of leadership in innovation and impact-oriented organizations. Prior to joining FORGE, she served as Executive Director at the Boston chapter of TiE - the largest global, not-for-profit network dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship. Laura holds an M.B.A from Boston University.

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Glynn Lloyd

Glynn Lloyd has been a pioneer in the field of transformative urban economic development for over 25 years. He is the Founder of City Fresh Foods, a nationally-renowned food service business, and over 20 years grew it on average 15% annually to $9M in revenue. As well as, the Urban Farming institute (UFI), a community-led nonprofit supporting the development of the urban farming industry in Massachusetts and has helped founded the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts (BECMA), a coalition of black business, community, religious and labor leaders working together to improve economic indicators in the Black community. Currently, he is the Executive Director of the Foundation for Business Equity (FBE) and CEO of Mill Cities Communities Investments (www.mccinvest.org). FBE’s first Initiative: The Business Equity Initiative has designed and is executing a unique approach to truly scaling up local Black and Latinx enterprises in Eastern MA to close the racial wealth gap (www.fbequity.org). Glynn resides in Roxbury with his wife Sara and daughters, Grace and Ayana.

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Learn about AIM's DEI Initiatives

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George Interviews John Regan, president and CEO of AIM

BusinessWest Editor George O’Brien talks with John Regan, president and CEO of Associated Industries of Mass.  The two discuss the state’s the economy and the headwinds facing it, especially the ongoing workforce crisis. They also discuss the prospects for a recession and the many issues keeping business owners up at night. It’s all must listening, so join us for BusinessTalk, a podcast presented by BusinessWest in partnership with Living Local and sponsored by PeoplesBank.

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Mass. colleges fall short of goal to expand minority contracting

Terryl Calloway runs a small, Black-owned graphics and printing firm on Newbury Street in the heart of Boston — a short distance from about a dozen colleges, including Boston University, Simmons University and Emerson College.

“We print anything from business cards, flyers, banners, signs — anything print,” he said on a recent morning while handing out flyers on the sidewalk.

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