COLUMBIA — The seventh annual Business Leaders Alliance Cultivating Knowledge expo, B.L.A.C.K, was held at Columbia College on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The expo showcased a variety of local minority-owned small businesses. Attendees had the opportunity to shop and engage with vendors in a marketplace at Columbia College’s Southwell Complex.
The James and Annelle Whitt Entrepreneurial Development foundation held the expo in conjunction with Columbia College. This marks the second year that Columbia College is hosting this expo with the foundation.
The foundation was formed by Annelle Whitt to create and nurture opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses in mid-Missouri and Columbia. The foundation provides these businesses with SEED Grant opportunities, something Whitt said has positively affected the community.
“The whole purpose for us and for our foundation is to build generational wealth,” Whitt said. “People forget that small businesses really fuel this country.”
After her husband’s death in 2021, Whitt and her family founded the foundation in his honor and to continue his legacy.
In 2024, Columbia College reached out to the foundation to begin hosting the B.L.A.C.K Expo together, something that Whitt said made sense to start doing.
“We’re about being not only in the community but being part of the community and being a resource for the community to succeed,” said Jonathan Moberly, dean of the Robert W. Plaster School of Business at Columbia College.
Both Columbia College and the foundation anticipate the B.L.A.C.K Business expo will continue to grow in Columbia and mid-Missouri.
For more information on the foundation, visit the James & Annelle Whitt Entrepreneurial Development Foundation’s website.
