Black Tech Week: A Q&A Session with Jordan Tyler, JobsOhio

Tell us about Black Tech Week.

Black Tech Week is one of the largest Black and Brown tech conferences in the country. Candice Brackeen, CEO of Lightship Foundation, and her husband and business partner, Brian Brackeen, acquired the conference about three years ago, brought it to Cincinnati, and expanded it. This year 5,000 Black, Brown, and other minority businesses, founders, and entrepreneurs were in attendance. It’s a place for tech professionals to collaborate, learn more, and discover best practices to get their businesses and careers to the next level.

Was the event well attended in its third year?

Attendance for the event was outstanding! The buzz is up, and there is more intentionality among tech professionals and founders about coming to the event. What I’ve discovered is Black Tech Week attendees have so much passion for what they do, especially among the business owners, which makes sense because it’s their livelihood.

Black Tech Week is a place for professionals and founders to share their stories with others with similar experiences. Whether through mentorship, funding, or connections, it has become a gathering place.

How did JobsOhio get involved in supporting Black Tech Week? 

Our support of Black Tech Week has been nurtured for a while; we’ve been involved each year in Ohio. Our partnership with Lightship Foundation and Lightship Capital has been strengthened by Hannah Baumgartel’s involvement. JobsOhio works with them to fund the Lightship Bootcamps, and together, we have created more opportunities for collaboration. This year, Ohio’s sponsorship of Black Tech Week included a brunch, a panel discussion, a reception, a booth at the career fair, and involvement in Business Development Day. It’s allowed us to tell the Ohio story and start conversations with businesses at an earlier stage.

Why is it important for an economic development corporation like JobsOhio to participate in Black Tech Week?

Economic development is one of the single most important things for entrepreneurs and founders to understand. Understanding the support economic development corporations offer, not only in Ohio but also in other states, can be vital to a business's success. Supporting enterprises at all stages builds a broader business base and makes more talented people available in the workforce.

What is Business Development Day? What was your role in Business Development Day?

This is the first time JobsOhio has participated in Business Development Day. It’s a lot like “speed dating.” We talked to people from all over—Chicago, Nigeria, Columbus, Atlanta, California, and Tulsa. Some meetings included opportunities for JobsOhio incentives. In others, we provided guidance to founders on the next steps to take before qualifying for assistance from JobsOhio.

These meetings provided an excellent opportunity for our Business Development team to better understand how to talk with small business owners. It was an awesome experience to tell these passionate founders and entrepreneurs that we could help them or connect them with a new resource to support their businesses.

What kinds of assistance does JobsOhio offer to small businesses looking for funding?

Most notable is the JobsOhio Small Business Grant, which provides assistance of $25,000 or $50,000 to businesses owned by underrepresented populations or located in distressed zip codes. If the businesses qualify and are in our targeted sectors, they will receive reimbursable grants that can be used for building expansion or renovation, equipment, lease payments, or land usage. These grants are usually a gap filler. The businesses have their capital together, they have $100,000 in revenue, and they are at least a year into the business. JobsOhio can provide the last financing piece to get them across the finish line. In return, they create jobs, capital investment, and payroll in Ohio.

What was your biggest takeaway from the Black Tech Week experience?

JobsOhio and REDI Cincinnati hosted a panel discussion to share examples of how founders are thriving in Ohio. Panel participants included the founders of two very different Ohio businesses. Cynthia Booth, CEO of Emerge Manufacturing, and Silvia Brownlee, CEO of Skin by Brownlee & Company, highlighted how JobsOhio and REDI were pivotal to their companies' successes.

Emerge Manufacturing is an onshore manufacturer of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) run by an accomplished business executive. It is on pace to be one of the largest black-owned manufacturers in Ohio. Cynthia speaks very highly of the support she received from JobsOhio. In fact, she is already talking about future growth and expansion. She plans to call JobsOhio again!

Skin by Brownlee is a successful skincare company that designs products for Black women. These products are available online and at Target.com. When the company moved into the manufacturing space, JobsOhio provided assistance through a JobsOhio Small Business Grant. During the panel, Silvia also gave a shout-out to the Ohio Department of Development for providing a loan to her company.

So, you have these two different kinds of businesses, and we can help both. We aren’t just here for the manufacturers who will hire 100 people. We are also working with smaller companies like Silvia’s, which recently started manufacturing, has its first large space, just got into Target, and has its first major contract deal.

These stories are examples of why what we do matters each day. Both women will undoubtedly have success because of these investments.

What is your advice to businesses in Ohio interested in expanding or businesses looking for an ecosystem to support them?

Reach out to your network. Connect with people to better understand the local ecosystem. Call upon partners like JobsOhio, the Ohio Department of Development, the regional economic development offices, and port authorities. These partners will help you understand a profitable next step for your business. If you are thinking about expansion, we want to know and be a part of your story. If we can’t help yet, we want to point you toward resources that can help your business today.  There is a place in Ohio’s business community for underrepresented founders, and JobsOhio is here to help these businesses grow and thrive.

Anything else?

Black Tech Week is one of those special events that not many states and cities get to embark on. I’m glad to be a part of it, and I think it should be celebrated. The passion and genuineness of the Black Tech Week attendees are contagious. Interacting with this group of founders and professionals is life-changing.

I’m very blessed and thankful to be a part of what JobsOhio is doing for Black and Brown founders. It’s a blessing to be a Black man working in economic development and being a part of the success of other people who look like me. I’m extremely proud to represent JobsOhio at Black Tech Week and in this journey.