The District Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD) is proud to present its first-ever virtual DC Local Business Expo. NEW DATE - July 15, 2020.

The half-day event will partner small business owners with primes for special matchmaking sessions, offer unique coaching opportunities, and provide access to workshops & training sessions. 

Scheduled activities include:

Welcome at 10AM from Kristi Whitfield, Director, Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD)

Capacity-building Workshops (1 hour each)

• OCP - Doing Business with the DC Government at 10:15AM

• Landscape on Access to Capital at 10:15AM

• Navigating Government Contracting with DC PTAC at 11:30AM

• Understanding and Leveraging Agency Waiver Requests for CBEs at 11:30AM

• Start-Up to William Hill with Joe Bertolone, Executive Director, UNLV International Center for Gaming Regulation at 11:30am

• Looking to the Future: How can District Businesses and Contractors Improve Energy Efficiency with at 1:00PM

• The State of Sports Betting in DC at 1:00PM

One-on-One Coaching Sessions on Financing your Business^ from 10:15AM to 3:00PM with coaches from DSLBD's DC PTAC and Inno.ED teams, and the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC). (Only for verified DC-based businesses and residents. 30-minute sessions)

• Create and Hone your Business Plan

• Create/Improve Financial Documents Needed by Lenders and Grantors

• Align your Ecommerce Site  with business model to generate sales and data for business goals

• How to Select a Lender

• Understand What Lenders Look for in Borrowers including creditworthiness

• Tips on how to modify your Web Site to engage funders and custumers

• General Business 101

Matchmaking with Agencies/Entities Seeking CBEs^ from 1PM to 3PM (Only for verified CBE businesses. 10-minute sessions)

• District Department of Transportation (DDOT) 

• DC Water 

• Department of General Services (DGS) 

^ Additional coaching and matchmaking sessions will be offered this summer.

Language interpretation available by phone/TTY. Please contact DSLBD to arrange - 2020-727-3900 or dslbd@dc.gov.