Minneapolis kicked off its sixth annual Black Business Week on Monday, July 27, opening a seven-day stretch of networking summits, resource workshops, and community events designed to support Black-owned businesses across the city just ahead of National Black Business Month in August. The week launched with a keynote from Sheletta Brundidge, a marketing veteran and founder of ShelettaMakesMeLaugh.com, whose address — titled “Let Your WHY Build Your WEALTH” — centered on a message that has become a defining theme of Black entrepreneurship in 2026: storytelling is the competitive advantage that separates businesses that survive from businesses that scale.
Key Takeaways
- Minneapolis opened its sixth annual Black Business Week on July 27, running through August 2, with programming that includes a kickoff summit, food business licensing workshops through the Northside Economic Opportunity Network, and networking events for emerging and established Black entrepreneurs.
- Black women are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the United States, with women over 50 driving the trend, according to Wall Street Journal reporting cited during the week’s programming.
- The week arrives as Minneapolis Black businesses continue recovering from the economic impact of “Operation Metro Surge,” a federal immigration enforcement action earlier this year that reduced foot traffic and consumer spending across the city, with East African community members among the hardest hit.
- Keynote speaker Sheletta Brundidge, who spent 26 years in corporate marketing before founding her own production company, built her address around a central insight for new founders: customers are not purchasing a product — they are purchasing a story.
What Is Black Business Week, and Why Does Minneapolis Host It?
Black Business Week is a city-sponsored initiative that dates back to 2019, organized by the City of Minneapolis small business team to celebrate and strengthen Black-owned businesses through targeted programming, resource access, and community visibility. The week is intentionally timed to precede August’s National Black Business Month, creating a bridge between local activation and the broader national conversation about Black economic power.
Zoe Thiel, manager of the small business team for the City of Minneapolis, described the week as “a way to celebrate Black business and tee up events that encourage greater support of Black businesses as a means for building community wealth.” Thiel noted that the energy in the rooms during Black Business Week is distinctive because business ownership holds deep personal and generational significance for attendees — a dynamic that transforms what could be a standard networking event into something with more cultural weight.
The 2026 edition includes programming designed around the full lifecycle of a business, from formation and licensing to storytelling and brand positioning. Among the featured events is a series hosted by the Northside Economic Opportunity Network, known as NEON, targeting current and aspiring food business owners. That series covers licensing requirements, available city and nonprofit resources, and access to NEON’s new commercial kitchen facility in Minneapolis — a practical infrastructure investment that lowers the cost barrier for food entrepreneurs who previously had to rent commercial kitchen time at market rates or operate without proper licensing.
Why Are Black Women Leading the Entrepreneurship Surge?
The Wall Street Journal has reported that Black women are starting new businesses at a faster rate than any other demographic group in the United States, with women over 50 driving a particularly pronounced wave. The trend reflects a combination of factors: decades of corporate experience that produce transferable skills in marketing, finance, and management; frustration with advancement ceilings in traditional employment; and a cultural infrastructure — including events like Black Business Week — that provides mentorship, visibility, and community support systems that traditional startup ecosystems have not historically offered to Black women founders.
Brundidge embodies the pattern. After spending 26 years in corporate marketing, Brundidge launched her own production and podcasting company six years ago. Her keynote drew on that transition to deliver a specific diagnostic aimed at new founders who struggle with customer acquisition. Brundidge told WCCO Radio that the most common problem among small businesses is an inability to communicate their story effectively. The framing Brundidge offered was direct: customers are not purchasing a product or a service — they are purchasing the founder’s narrative, identity, and reason for existing. A business without a compelling story, in Brundidge’s assessment, is a business without a hook.
Brundidge’s perspective carries additional weight in the context of Black entrepreneurship, where the founder’s personal narrative often intersects directly with the cultural and community need the business addresses. The emotional resonance of the founder’s journey is not a marketing supplement — it is frequently the product’s primary differentiator in a crowded market.
How Is One New Entrepreneur Using Black Business Week to Build Visibility?
Jakesa Thompson launched Happy Plate just one month before Black Business Week began. The allergy-inclusive baked goods company addresses a gap Thompson identified through her own family’s experience: her three children have food allergies, and she watched them get excluded from celebrations where desserts and treats were not safe for them to eat.
Thompson described the pattern plainly. Family gatherings, birthday parties, and community celebrations routinely offered food that her children could not eat, and the social cost — watching them be left out — became the motivation to build something that solved the problem. Happy Plate produces treats that are allergy-friendly but, in Thompson’s words, “taste as good, if not better than the traditionally made items” — a positioning that directly challenges the perception that allergy-conscious food requires a sacrifice in quality.
Thompson has signed up for the NEON food business series during Black Business Week, where she will learn about licensing, city resources, and access to commercial kitchen facilities. Thompson also plans to sample and sell her products at networking events throughout the week, using the concentrated audience of Black entrepreneurs, community members, and resource providers as a launchpad for customer acquisition and brand visibility. Thompson’s approach reflects exactly the dynamic Brundidge described: the product is the treats, but the story — a mother solving a problem that other families share — is what creates the emotional connection that turns a first customer into a repeat one.
What Economic Headwinds Are Minneapolis Black Businesses Facing?
Black Business Week arrives as Minneapolis Black-owned businesses are still absorbing the economic impact of “Operation Metro Surge,” a federal immigration enforcement action earlier this year that created a visible law enforcement presence across the city. Thiel described the effect as broad and immediate: residents stayed home, foot traffic dropped, restaurant visits declined, and retail spending contracted across the city and metro area. Minneapolis’ East African community members were among the hardest hit, with some business owners reporting not only fewer customers but also staffing concerns and financial strain that persisted after the enforcement activity ended.
The lingering effects of the enforcement action add urgency to the week’s programming. For business owners who lost weeks or months of revenue during the surge, access to city resources, networking with other founders facing similar challenges, and visibility within a supportive community are not abstractions — they are recovery tools. Thiel framed the city’s investment in Black Business Week as a recognition that building community wealth through business ownership requires ongoing institutional support, not just annual celebration.
Brundidge closed her remarks with a statement that captured the week’s animating philosophy. “It’s my responsibility and goal to make sure we all succeed,” Brundidge said. “I want to see my fellow founders doing well.” Thompson echoed the sentiment from the other end of the experience spectrum. “Because people have been so willing to share their resources with me, I’d like to pay it forward someday,” Thompson said. In that exchange — the established founder lifting, the emerging founder already planning to do the same — is the cycle that Black Business Week exists to sustain.
FAQs
What is Minneapolis Black Business Week?
Black Business Week is a city-sponsored annual initiative running from July 27 through August 2, 2026, organized by the City of Minneapolis small business team. Now in its sixth year, the week features networking summits, workshops, food business licensing series, and community events designed to support Black-owned businesses and connect founders with resources, mentors, and customers.
Who is Sheletta Brundidge, and what was her keynote about?
Sheletta Brundidge is a marketing professional with 26 years of corporate experience who founded her own production and podcasting company, ShelettaMakesMeLaugh.com. Her Black Business Week keynote, titled “Let Your WHY Build Your WEALTH,” focused on storytelling as a business strategy — specifically, the idea that customers purchase a founder’s story and identity as much as the product itself, and that the inability to communicate that narrative is the most common barrier to growth for small businesses.
What is Happy Plate, and why was it featured during Black Business Week?
Happy Plate is an allergy-inclusive baked goods company founded by Jakesa Thompson in June 2026. Thompson started the business after watching her three children with food allergies get excluded from social celebrations where desserts were not safe for them. Happy Plate produces treats designed to taste as good as conventional baked goods while meeting allergy-friendly standards. Thompson used Black Business Week to network, access city resources, and sell her products to a concentrated audience of community members and fellow entrepreneurs.
How can Black entrepreneurs in Minneapolis access Black Business Week resources?
The full schedule of events, including the NEON food business series, networking workshops, and summit programming, is available through the City of Minneapolis events page. Events run from July 27 through August 2, 2026, and are open to current and aspiring Black business owners across the city.
