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Minority Business Expo

Efforts to diversify the kinds of businesses working with the city of Lexington are showing some success.  The 11th annual Bluegrass Area Minority Business Expo takes place Thursday and Friday (August 1-2).  The expo’s designed to help spur business for companies owned by women and minorities.  Expo Co-Chair Marilyn Clark also works in purchasing for the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government.

“I can tell you that a lot of the collaborations just in my position here at LFUCG, some of the things that we’ve done with some of the organizations and some of the businesses that attend, we have reached our ten percent goal this year for the first time and exceeded it of the number of companies that we work with throughout the year, are part of the expo,” said Clark.

The organizers of this week’s Bluegrass Area Minority Business Expo are reaching out to businesses owned by Hispanics. For example, for the first time, a session will be offered in Spanish.
 
“They have four speakers that are gonna present there.   They are also gonna try to get more students to come out to be a part of the session.  So, we hope that that will grow over time, that they see that the intentions here are very sincere.  We want them to be a part of the process,” added Clark.
 
Clark says the reconstruction of Rupp Arena is also on the expo’s agenda.  Minority owned contractors hope to play a significant role in the redevelopment.  The expo sessions are held Thursday and Friday (August 1-2) at the Lexington Convention Center.