Department of Commerce set to host educational series focused on building generational wealth

The Department of Commerce’s Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) will be hosting a series of educational workshops aimed at sharing pathways toward generational wealth for minority-, women- and disabled-owned businesses.

The workshops are expected to provide business owners with in-depth education on topics such as “exploring opportunities with city contracts, developing a strategy to pursue business proposals, and learning about available resources,” according to a news release.

The educational series is the latest initiative the city is introducing as part of its yearly resolution to reach at least 35% participation from minority-, women- and disabled-owned enterprises in its distribution of city contracts.

“This series is about more than providing minority- and women-owned businesses with tools to succeed,” said Lynn T. Newsome, deputy Commerce director of the Office of Economic Opportunity. “It is also about providing businesses with knowledge, allowing them to grow and creating a pathway to generational wealth that can be passed down from generation to generation.”

The OEO will be offering two virtual monthly series for businesses: “Doing Business in the City,” which will take place online on the third Wednesday of each month, and “Business Development”, which will take place online on the fourth Wednesday of each month.

The “Doing Business in the City” series is expected to feature presenters from Philadelphia’s Procurement Department who will guide businesses forward with instructions on how to respond to RFPs and BIDs.

RFP stands for “request for proposal,” which is typically a business document that announces and describes a potential project and solicits bids from contractors in order to complete it. BIDs, on the other hand, represent the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to buy a contract or service.

Meanwhile, the “Business Development” series will host its first workshop on Wednesday, which will address the topic, the “Psychology of Owning a Business”. The workshop will be facilitated by Newsome and Jigar Mehta, an outsourcing advisory consultant, as they cover topics such as “how to learn and grow from failure, resilience, coping mechanisms and more.”

The “Business Development” series is an offshoot of the OEO’s annual Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week, created with the hope of furthering the OEO’s intent “to consistently help businesses reach the next level of entrepreneurship.”

Moving forward, the two series of workshops will be offered from January through June and September through November.

“Commerce seeks to help all businesses thrive with equitable wealth building opportunities. The Office of Economic Opportunity’s educational series designed to promote growth for diverse businesses is advancing our mission,” Commerce Director Anne Nadol said. “We are committed to cultivating diversity and inclusion by meeting minority, women and disabled business enterprises where they are, based on their needs, to power our economy.”