- 1 min read
- Posted on 01.17.08
SLDC director Rodney Crim invited me over to America’s Center yesterday to visit a “business fair.”
Working with the Minority Business Council and employers in the local business community, Rodney is matching up large local companies committed to increase the amount of goods and services they purchase from minority businesses with the small minority businesses hoping to sell their goods or services. Business fairs will bring a room of selling businesses to the headquarters of a large local buyer, letting both parties meet and establish purchasing relationships.
Kitty Ratcliffe of the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission is strongly committed to buying more from minority businesses and she offered to host the first fair. Forty or so vendors met up with dozens of her department heads; and several companies even walked away with appointments for follow-up meetings.
More fairs will follow, Rodney says.
