Media
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For More Information, Contact:
Robert Dickerson, Jr.
(205) 250-6380
bdickerson@bbrc.biz
Fourth Annual A.G. Gaston Conference Features Rev. Floyd Harold Flake and Business Mogul Michael Roberts in 2008
Newest “State of Black Business in Birmingham”
Report on Community Small Business Development
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BIRMINGHAM, AL (November 4, 2007) – The business principles of Birmingham business titan Dr. A.G. Gaston, “Save a part of all you earn. Pay yourself first. Never borrow anything that, if forced to it, you can’t pay back”, serve as the backdrop for the Annual A.G. Gaston Conference started four years ago. Hosted by the Birmingham Business Resource Center and Advanced Planning Services, the conference will be held February 19-20, 2008, in Birmingham featuring renowned community leader, the Rev. Floyd Flake of New York and the return of the 21st Century business mogul, Michael Roberts of St. Louis.
“Building on the success of the 2007 conference, this year we want to focus on what can happen when an inner-city retail and housing entrepreneur like Michael Roberts meets with representatives of the faith community like Rev. Floyd Flake, to generate business development opportunities”, says Bob Dickerson, one of the conference organizers.
Dickerson, Executive Director of the Birmingham Business Resource Center, says the 2008 conference –
“The Economic Impact of Small Businesses on Local Communities” – will bring these two powerhouse speakers whose experiences are setting the standards for economic development in under-served communities. “What we hope will come out of this conference are examples of the kinds of collaborations African Americans will need to empower ourselves through business ownership,” he said.
The 2007 conference saw greater inclusion of the faith community, a theme that continues in 2008 with the Rev. Floyd Flake, senior pastor of the 23,000 member Greater Allen African Methodist Episcopal Cathedral in Jamaica, Queens, New York. Under his 21-year pastorate, Allen AME’s annual non-profit operating budget has reached nearly $24 million.
Flake and his congregation are nationally renowned for expansive commercial and residential developments, its 500-student private school, and its various commercial and social service enterprises. Its community-building efforts have made Allen AME among the nation's most productive religious and urban development institutions. If the church were a for-profit entity, it would be one of the nation's 100 largest African American-owned enterprises.
Dickerson says Flake and his church started with buying and renovating old buildings and apartments; then they ended up with retail shopping centers. “These sort of developments drive a sense of community, set the groundwork for property appreciation, which upgrades depressed communities,” he said.
He calls Roberts the 21st Century version of A.G. Gaston who, like his predecessor, found a need and filled it. Roberts and his brother worked to breathe new life into old retail outlets and build new housing in inner-city St. Louis, MO. communities where many bankers were not willing to invest money. The Roberts Brothers’ business acumen turned those investments into bigger deals that today include commercial and residential real estate holdings, hotels, radio stations and communications towers.
“Together, Flake and Roberts represent what can happen when well-educated, smart and business-savvy entrepreneurs put their energies back into improving their own communities,” Dickerson said.
Dubbed “Entrepreneur of the Century” by Black Enterprise Magazine, Dr. A.G. Gaston (1892-1996), for whom the conference was named, was one of the richest black men in America. He overcame poverty and the lack of educational opportunities to become a virtual giant in the world of business and commerce. “Gaston made these phenomenal accomplishments during a period when abject and overt racial discrimination was the way of life in Birmingham”, Dickerson said. The conference holds up Gaston’s time-honored principles and practices as encouragement for other blacks who must overcome barriers as they strive to succeed.
The A.G. Gaston Conference continues to shine a light on the plight of Black-owned businesses and its implications for the broader community. Blacks are 30 percent of the Birmingham region’s population, which should mean that they own a proportionate number of businesses that generate a proportionate percent of the revenue in this $100-billion-plus market. “Unfortunately, the world is so far from perfect that black businesses in Birmingham generate only one half of one percent of the total market.” Statistics are similarly skewed in other cities across the country, he says.
In 2007, the conference’s third annual “The State of Black Business in Birmingham” white paper found that, if Blacks owned businesses at the same rate as whites, there would be 18,000 more businesses, with payrolls generating $720 million more than what they do now. That kind of money flowing through the Black community would have a significant positive social impact and boost the entire region’s economy, the paper concluded.
The Rev. Gerald Austin, founder and CEO of The Center for Urban Missions, will author the conference’s 2008 white paper entitled, “The Role of the Church in Community Economic Development.”
The fourth annual A.G. Gaston Conference will honor local small businesses and feature several general sessions with the keynote speakers as well as other special announcements. Dickerson co-founded the conference with Gaynelle Adams Jackson of Advanced Planning Services.
For More Information about the Conference:
Visit the website at www.aggastonexpo.com to register online and get more detailed information on the conference schedule and on speakers/presenters. Tickets for the two-day conference can be purchased online for $75 for early-bird registrants, and $125 after Feb. 1, 2008. An awards program and reception celebrating the accomplishments of Birmingham-based Black entrepreneurs and civic leaders are free and open to the public.
For more information, contact the Birmingham Business Resource Center at (205) 250-6380, or e-mail INFO@bbrc.biz.