Each year’s Cape Fear Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week tweaks its approach and offerings, based on its experience the previous year. The recent event, which took place Oct. 10-14, returned to a mostly in-person series of speakers, discussions and hands-on activities, with fewer online offerings. The feedback was mostly positive, according to MED Week committee chairman Joe Conway.
“A lot of folks made comments that they were glad it was in person, [even though] some of them missed the online sessions. This year, they were able to exchange cards in the room and talk with people,” said Conway, the city of Wilmington’s chief equity and inclusion officer.
An important step in the Cape Fear MED Week’s evolution, according to Conway, was becoming a community-oriented event, drawing support and participation from multiple entities: University of North Carolina Wilmington, its original sponsor; Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, last year’s chief organizer; the city of Wilmington, New Hanover County and Genesis Block, a minority-focused business incubator. nCino was a major sponsor this year.
The chamber opened MED Week with a session of its Intentional Collisions series, designed to bring together people who may not interact in daily life. The event, held at Los Portales Taqueria No. 2, was packed, according to Conway, and set the tone for a schedule of other gatherings.
Participation was strong and positive through the other events, from “Amplify the Legacy: Sustaining Women’s Business Enterprises” to a keynoted session focusing on rural health care, to Saturday’s talk on government contracting and trade show networking event at Genesis Block, Conway said, adding that while African American and Latino business owners were well represented, “it’s no secret that women entrepreneurs reign supreme.”
Conway, who will continue as the MED Week committee chairman for 2024, said organizers learned several things they will apply in planning for next year. In addition to building on the week as a community-oriented experience, he said there needs to be a commitment to even broader inclusion.
“We need to be more inclusive when it comes to [extending to] Pender County; maybe going as far as Duplin and Onslow,” he said. “We’ve already got participation from Brunswick, although that could grow. This is the fastest-growing region in North Carolina. How do we do it better and include everyone?”
Despite MED Week’s foundational mission of helping nurture and celebrate minority businesses, Conway said that white male business owners should be in the mix as well.
“History has taught us we are all in this boat together. White male business owners need to be there,” Conway continued.
He and the committee will also look at nuts-and-bolts issues such as clearer messaging to help unify the various MED Week components, perhaps keeping all of those components under one roof, and forming a core committee that will continue their planning efforts over the coming year.