Last week, the Greater Arlington Chamber of Commerce proudly partnered with the Office of Governor for the Governor’s Small Business Summit hosted right here in Arlington. With only thirteen cities selected across this great and very large state, Arlington was the only city selected in North Texas, the state’s largest metropolitan region with 7.6 million residents and 100,000+ small businesses.
Hosted in Globe Life Field, Arlington welcomed hundreds of small businesses from across the region. Governor Greg Abbott created the summits to, “help Texas small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs reach new heights by connecting them with the resources and information needed to start, strengthen and grow a business.”
Governor Greg Abbott believes that Small Businesses are the backbone of the economy employing half of all Texas workers. Here at the Chamber, we couldn’t agree more. Arlington prides itself in creating space for small businesses and finding ways to make the American Dream come to life for every entrepreneur and every family.
Introduction
Actively involved in the summit, the Chamber had quite a presence. Chamber CEO & President, Michael Jacobson opened up the event attesting to the remarkable growth in Arlington over the past few decades, specifically the drive of our small businesses.
Jacobson also reminded attendees how important it is to join a Chamber. Regardless, if it is the Greater Arlington Chamber of Commerce, joining a Chamber allows you to grow your business, build your network and connect with your community. It is an amazing opportunity to create life-long relationships that can take your life and business to a whole new level.
Panels
The Small Business Summit consisted of four panels, and we’re proud to say each panel had representation from our Chamber Building a Business: Learning from the Experts, Access to Finance and Funding, What’s Hot: Marketing and Communication Tools for Small Businesses and Recruiting, Training and Retaining Employees in Today’s Economy.
Building a Business: Learning from the Experts was moderated by Chamber member Michael Dailey, CEO & Founder of Invictus Legacy Builders. Rex Steele, Director of the North Texas Small Business Development Center at Tarrant County College, was featured on the panel representing two Chamber members in SBDC and TCC.
Access to Finance and Funding featured the Chamber’s incoming Board Chairman Mike Gerro, Market President of Frost Bank, as well as University of Texas at Arlington’s Senior Director of Veterans Business Outreach Center, Patrick Alcorn. The panel conversation was led by a Chamber community partner, Linda Williams, U.S. Small Business Administration’s Economic Development Specialist in North Texas.
The Chamber’s very own VP of Marketing & Communications, Britton Cunningham Merritt, moderated What’s Hot: Marketing and Communications Tools for Small Businesses. The panel included Chamber member Beth Owens, Co-founder and Marketing Strategist at BrandEra, and Dr. Elten Briggs, Department Chair and Professor of Marketing at the University of Texas at Arlington, one of the Chamber major investors.
Recruiting, Training and Retaining in Today’s Economy was moderated by Chamber board ex-officio member Judy McDonald, the Executive Director at Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County.
Keynote
Attendees of the Summit also had the opportunity to hear from keynote speaker Rob Matwick, Executive VP of Business Operations for the Texas Rangers. Speaking on his on the Rangers effort to higlight and work with small businesses in the community, it’s evident Matwick and his team are hitting it out of the park. The stadium offers an Arlington Eats area at every home baseball game celebrating and promoting local restaurants in Arlington to Rangers fans. Two Chamber members that have had the opportunity to share their delicious food with game-goers are Prince Lebanese Grill and Hurtado BBQ.
Thank you to Governor Abbott and his Office of Small Business Assistance for choosing Arlington, the Dream City, as one of the locations for this amazing and impactful Summit. We hope that attendees were able to find new paths to grow their business and create new relationships with other local business owners and entrepreneurs. We can’t wait to see where their entrepreneurial spirits take them next!