Business owners from across Kentucky and neighboring states are making this year’s Lexington Bluegrass Minority Business Expo the largest in its 14 year history.
It’s a chance for patrons, business owners and anyone looking for a career change to network and at Heritage Hall in downtown Lexington, there were hundreds of people doing just that. Marilyn Clark is the Manager of Economic Development for FCPS, she’s also the Conference Chairperson. Clark told WUKY that Central Kentucky has become a template for supporting and growing minority businesses. “There’s really a lot of help in Lexington and Louisville and when I go to other places and I talk about what we do they say wow, we need to take notes on you. I do think we’ve made a conscious effort to be inclusive”
As far as how many minority businesses are in the Bluegrass state, Clark says it’s unclear. “It’s not a statistic the state keeps and I’d like to change that so I don’t know”
This year’s Expo theme was ‘Building a Bridge to Opportunities’ and focused on ways to grow a business in an ever changing society.