WS Chronicle

By Busta Brown

Saturday, Aug. 25, is the fifth anniversary of the Triad Minority and Women’s Business Expo.

“Some businesses will close their stores on that day, to come to our Expo”, said Reginald McCaskill. I asked McCaskill, is that because they can make more money that day than in a month? “Yes” he replied. McCaskill is the founder and CEO of the event.

I attended last year’s Expo at Biotech Place at the Innovation Quarter, and it was a vendor’s dream come true. There were lines and lines of people seeing businesses and products for the first time, and the great news for all of those vendors was the new customers came to spend lots of money.

What sets this Expo aside from the rest, McCaskill said, is “we have a variety of women and minority businesses throughout the entire region. Because of the financial success and the amount of people our vendors reach in one day, they come back each year. They tell me we wouldn’t miss this for anything in the world.”

McCaskill is a businessman himself, the president and CEO of Maximum Enterprises Business Consulting Firm in Winston-Salem. He believes there are enough people in the Triad to support all minority and women businesses, so he created the Triad Minority and Women’s Business Expo to give the businesses exposure to the public.

“A lot of us really don’t have the platform and marketing dollars like a lot of major Fortune 500 companies, so my mindset was to start this Expo. It’s working very well for the community and businesses,” McCaskill said.

McCaskill said the first year started small.“We had 25 businesses, the second we had 37. The third year we moved up to 65, last year 85, and this year we expect over 100 minority and women businesses there.”

I hear nothing but positive results from businesses that attend the Expo, so it’s no surprise that vendors are calling daily to secure a spot. Because of the demand, the Expo had to move to the Benton Convention Center in downtown Winston-Salem.

The Triad Minority and Women’s Business Expo will be an entire weekend, said McCaskill,

“On Friday, August 24, we have international speakers that are coming in. Winston-Salem State University is partnering with us on that,” McCaskill said. “It’s free to the public. This will be held at the Anderson Center on campus starting at 11 a.m. There will tastings and food. That night in the Donald Julian Reeves Center is the Opening Awards Reception. The very next day is the Expo from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Benton Convention Center, and we need to fill that space with vendors.”

There will be sponsors giving away $5,000 to $10,000 in prizes throughout the day, and celebrity guests will stop by to meet and greet the Winston-Salem community.

“The ‘Ice Queen’ from the hit TV show ‘The Haves and have Nots,’ Angela Robinson, and from ‘The Parkers,’ Dorien Wilson, will be here. They’re very excited to come out.”

I’m excited about the Talent Showcase. There will be bands, singers, dancers and artists from all over North Carolina from 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. My son Cameron’s band, Genre, will be one of the performers. It’s all free to the public. And there’s more.

“We’re going to wind down with our White Party at the Benton Convention Center. After all the hard work and sweating, we’re going to party and have some fun,” McCaskill said. I will be the emcee with DJ Energizer.

Go tohttps://www.youtube.com/embed/fd4sK1YyOFs to watch the rest of my interview with Reginald McCaskill.

For more info and tickets call (336) 448 4177 or visit triadminoritybusinessexpo.com