Kalenna Ginyard

The Midlands Minority Business Accelerator (MMBA) is a program of the Columbia Chamber in partnership with the South Carolina Minority Business Accelerator. Funded with a seed grant from Bank of America, MMBA is an initiative designed to advance economic inclusion across the state of South Carolina by helping to reduce the economic disparities experienced by minority-owned businesses. The initiative provides opportunities for economic growth and prosperity for high-potential minority-owned firms. MMBA is a major economic…

  Food Truck Fridays are held every Friday from 11:00AM - 3:00PM at 2300 Bull Street (in the REI Co-op parking lot).  You will find in the flyer the list of all food truck vendors participating this month! If you would like to participate in Food Truck Fridays as a vendor, please contact the Office of Business Opportunities at (803)545-3950 or email us at OBO@columbiasc.gov!

Mayor Daniel J. Rickenmann will be leading a town hall tour across all four districts to share the state of the City. City Council members and City staff will join Mayor Rickenmann to discuss updates for each district.  There will be a town hall for the Columbia Business Community on Monday, October 16th at 10:00AM at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center!  To learn more, click here to go to the Mayor's Town Hall webpage!

The Benedict College Women's Business Center is receiving $2,000,000 from the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) to help empower entrepreneurs from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds.  To read more and watch, click here to go to WLTX News 19 website!

South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) will be hosting a DBE Outreach Event for Phase 3 of the Carolina Crossroads project.  Phase 3 of this project is the most expansive phase of the project.  This event will be for two days with the first day consisted of a virtual general session on Tuesday, August 29th from 4:00 - 6:00PM.  Day Two will be virtual or in-person one-on-one meetings on Wednesday, August 30th beginning at 9:00AM.…

According to Experience Columbia SC, visitation to the Columbia region increased from 15.1 million in 2021 to 15.8 million in 2022.  The 2022 numbers surpass pre-pandemic levels by four (4) percent.  The statistics also show that visitor spending in 2022 increased 12 percent over the previous year to $1.7 billion. generating a total economic impact of $2.6 billion in the Columbia region. To read more in this article, click here to go to the MidlandsBiz webpage!

The City of Columbia's Office of Business Opportunities will be hosting it's 10th Annual Small Business Week Conference on Friday, May 5, 2023 at the Medallion Conference Center!  This conference will be filled with breakout presentations, keynote speakers, and the U.S. Small Business Administration will host an awards ceremony and matchmaking session beginning at 12:30PM.  For more information, click on the link to go to our OBO's Eventbrite page!

Congratulations to Lasenta Lewis-Ellis of LLE Construction Group who was featured on News 19's "A Seat At The Table" on March 9th.  To read more and watch the interview, click on the following link to News 19's webpage!