The office of Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino and the Westchester County African American Advisory Board this month will host “Connections for Success,” the county”™s inaugural summit for small-business owners and job seekers.
The event, featuring a keynote speaker with an immigrant”™s “rags to riches” success story, will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 16 at the Westchester County Center in White Plains.
County officials in a press release said business owners will learn how to gain access to the “3 C”™s” that can make their business a success: customers, capital and contracts. Job seekers will get a jump on available employment opportunities in the county.
The program will include panel discussions and breakout sessions with business experts; networking opportunities with representatives from organizations looking to hire or to contract with small businesses; and an exhibitor mall featuring dozens of business support services and resources.
Panelists include representatives from IBM Corp., MasterCard Inc., WestMed Medical Group, Consolidated Edison Inc., Greater Hudson Bank, the state Thruway Authority”™s New NY Bridge project and various Westchester County departments and agencies.
Lowell Hawthorne, president and CEO of Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill, will deliver the summit”™s keynote address at 11:45 a.m. Based in the South Bronx, the privately held corporation he heads is a manufacturer and distributor of Caribbean food products and franchisor of Caribbean restaurants, according to the company”™s website.
The son of bakery owners in St. Andrew, Jamaica, Hawthorne emigrated to the U.S. and, pooling money with family members, in 1989 opened the first Golden Krust retail location in the Bronx. Â Seven years later, the company, which then owned 17 restaurants throughout New York City, became the first Jamaican-owned business to be granted a franchise license in the U.S.
Golden Krust has grown into a $100 million business operating a chain of more than 100 restaurants in nine states, including stores in Mount Vernon, New Rochelle and White Plains.
A $35 registration fee for the daylong summit includes breakfast, lunch and parking. Business owners and job hunters can register online at westchesterny.org/connections.
Job seekers enrolled at the Westchester One-Stop Center are exempt from the fee but are required to register for the event.
The county’s private-sector partners for the event include The Business Council of Westchester, Westchester County Association and numerous business services providers.
