WASHINGTON – Continuing her whirlwind tour of several states and cities as part of National Small Business Week , SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet will have a full day in California on Friday, May 6th, as the Obama Cabinet member leads two events, one in San Jose and the other in Oakland, to celebrate some of the top small businesses being honored during the annual event.
Contreras-Sweet’s first event will be in San Jose, under the theme “New American” Entrepreneurs. She will join San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo at the 5th Annual Summit on Entrepreneurship and Innovation, where she will deliver the keynote speech and discuss business trends and resources to help small businesses start and grow.
The majority of attendees will be “New American” entrepreneurs; there will be workshops with simultaneous translation in Spanish and Vietnamese, which will expand the event's appeal even further. The annual summit brings together Silicon Valley businesses and city leaders, assistance organizations, and entrepreneurs to encourage business growth in Silicon Valley. In keeping with the spirit and theme of the event, Contreras-Sweet will present a grant to AnewAmerica, a Women Business Center dedicated to helping “New American” women entrepreneur start, grow and expand their own businesses.
Admission is free, but space is limited. See registration and agenda here.
The SBA Administrator’s second event will be in Oakland, where she will highlight the theme of Healthy Businesses/Healthy Communities. The event will be hosted by Revolution Foods, a successful woman-owned company dedicated to promoting healthy foods in schools and communities at large. Contreras-Sweet will deliver the keynote speech. Other speakers will be Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and Revolution Foods’ top officials Kristin Groos Richmond and Kirsten Saenz Tobey.
Revolution Foods started out as a small business, received SBA assistance, and today is a major player in the healthy food business, serving more than 1.5 million school meals a week in 15 states.
As part of the event, Contreras-Sweet will recognize Nona Lim, a specialty food manufacturing company in the healthy food business that won the honor as Northern California’s Emerging Business of the Year for 2016.
Each year since 1963, the President has issued a proclamation designating National Small Business Week. This year’s celebration will take place May 1-6 around the nation with national events planned in Washington, D.C., New York, Denver, Phoenix, Oakland and San Jose, Calif. The theme this year is “Dream Big, Start Small.”
Events throughout the week will be live-streamed on SBA’s website. There will also be the opportunity during events for live social media engagement using the hashtag #DreamSmallBiz.
For more information on National Small Business Week events, please visit www.sba.gov/nsbw.
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About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 and since January 13, 2012 has served as a Cabinet-level agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation. The SBA helps Americans start, build and grow businesses. Through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations, the SBA delivers its services to people throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. www.sba.gov
Cosponsorship Authorization #SBW2016 SBA’s participation in this cosponsored activity is not an endorsement of the views, opinions, products or services of any Cosponsor or other person or entity. All SBA/SCORE programs and services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Reasonable arrangements for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance. Contact: smallbusinessweek@sba.gov. SCORE is partially funded by SBA Cooperative Agreement No. SBAHQ-14-S-0001.
National Small Business Week 2016 sponsors include: Chase for Business, SCORE, ADP, Colonial Life, Intuit, Sam’ s Club, Square, YP, ESET, Facebook, Instagram, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders (NAGGL) and VEDC