In an effort to support the upcoming “Blackout 2k8,” local black businesses showcased their works at the “Black is Green” Student Business Expo Wednesday.
Florida A&M University’s Student Government Association held the expo in conjunction with The Green Pages. a student business directory.
La Shaveria Keeton, human resource manager of The Green Pages, said, the directory focused on building student businesses in the Tallahassee area from the ground up.
The expo, which consisted of Green Page clients who are student entrepreneurs, was held to introduce and inform students of the black-owned businesses on campus.
Keeton said she hoped students benefited from the Expo.
“We hope that students will learn more about these businesses on campus because some of them offer student discounts,” Keeton said.
Kianta Key, 21, a senior public relations student from Atlanta and secretary of economic development for SGA, said the Expo, which is supposed to be an annual event, has not taken place in the last two years and it was important for targeting students.
“It’s a part of my constitutional duty to expose the student body to student business and give them the opportunity to network with local business professionals and potential investors,” Key said.
Green Page client, Janelle Napier, is a black student entrepreneur who is trying to expose herself to students. Napier said she has been creating jewelry since 2004; her passion for selling jewelry began when she got her ears pierced. Napier realized that she did not want to wear the same thing as everyone else.
Napier, also a FAMU alumna, said she enrolled into the School of Business and Industry planning to start her own business. She said the school led her to believe that she had to work for some major corporation in order to be successful.
Napier said the thought of working for a corporation was unexciting so she decided to sell jewelry. Selling her product has been very profitable.
“I hope that somehow it will inspire students to do other things because it’s so hard trying to work under someone else,” Napier said.