The Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation (EDC) on Thursday welcomed more than 250 small-business owners for a conversation with networking guru George C. Fraser, who expounded on the need for developing an effective business network.
EDC President and CEO Jim Coleman told the business owners that his mission is to connect the county’s business community to dynamic, powerhouse leaders such as Fraser, CEO of FraserNet and founder of the Power Networking Conference.
“Dr. Fraser is a true gem who knows how to get results,” Coleman said. “Every day, I encounter business owners who are pregnant with ideas and thirsty for knowledge about how to take their businesses to the next level. Today, Dr. Fraser truly empowered everyone who heard him. I agree that we can’t go it alone if we want to be successful. We have to have networking partners to get us to the next level.
“At the EDC, we are a proud success partner for all of our small businesses,” Coleman said. “We’re honored to be able to connect our business leaders to powerhouse individuals who can show them the way to hypergrowth. I’m happier than words can describe about what today meant to the Prince George’s County business community.”
Fraser, a nationally renowned author, publisher and motivational speaker, has for the past 30 years led a global networking movement that brings together diverse human resources to increase opportunities for people of African descent.
On Thursday, he shared his networking knowledge with the county’s small business owners and entrepreneurs in preparation for his annual Power Networking Conference in July.
“Prince George’s County is all that, and a bag of chips,” he said. “There is no place in America where you can seize the networking opportunities that are available right here. Networking is the identification and the building of relationships for the purpose of sharing information, opportunities and resources. All of life is about relationships. There is no success that you can attain, sustain or maintain on your own in a vacuum.
“The most powerful asset you have in the 21st century will not be your computer — it will be your relationships,” Fraser said. “All entrepreneurships, all job searches, all upward mobility in the public- and private-sector workplace, all community building, and all nation-building are inherently relationship-building initiatives.”
Fraser stressed to the audience their responsibilities as African-American business leaders to “earn, learn and return,” explaining that they should be motivated to change things, show up to receive the information that can make their lives better, and understand that they must transcend being good at just functional and analytical problem-solving tasks.
“Today’s conference was very powerful, and something that the African-American business community has needed for a long time,” said Morgan Stanley’s Sherryleen Lynch. “Dr. Fraser made a lot of good points about businesses working together in the community, and building relationships — that is really key. He validated what I have been doing with my business, which let me know that I am on the right track. I can’t wait to go to the big conference in July.”
For more information on the Power Networking Conference from July 5-7, go to www.powernetworkingconference.com. To view the livestream of today’s seminar, go to https://www.facebook.com/PGCEDC.
For more information about small-business development at the Economic Development Corporation, contact EDC Small Business Manager Alicia Moran (amoran@co.pg.md.us) or 301-583-4650.
