Black Tech Week will call Cincinnati home for at least the next three years.
Candice Matthews Brackeen, CEO of Lightship Foundation, a nonprofit economic development organization, confirmed the decision to stay in the city to Cincy Inno last month, following a national bid for the 2024 event. A formal announcement was made Dec. 5 at a press conference at the Aronoff Center, where the city of Cincinnati and other partners shared additional details on what led to the decision and what the future holds.
“This is a massive win for our entire community,” Mayor Aftab Pureval said. “After only two years in Cincinnati, Black Tech Week has become a cultural cornerstone and such an incredible gem for our city.”
Brackeen describes Black Tech Week not as a conference, but a movement.
“It’s a movement that finds its home here in Cincinnati. A city that embraces change, champions diversity and relentlessly pursues innovation,” Brackeen said during the press conference. “Keeping Black Tech Week in Cincinnati is more than a celebration. It is Cincinnati’s commitment to nurturing the growth of companies led by Black tech entrepreneurs. It’s about providing a platform for voices that aren’t always heard and for companies that aren’t always known.”
Brackeen said that her goal is to redefine the tech landscape. She’s working with the mayor’s office, convention and visitors' bureau Visit Cincy, economic development engine REDI Cincinnati and other partners to make that happen.
“When this city thinks together, there’s nothing that holds us back,” said Pete Blackshaw, CEO of Cintrifuse.
It's Cintrifuse's goal to make Greater Cincinnati the No. 1 startup ecosystem in the Midwest.
“We are going to do everything we can to convert the leads," Blackshaw continued. "This (Black Tech Week) is one of our best lead-generation opportunities in decades to really change the entrepreneurial landscape of our town.”
Exact incentives on what kept the event here were not discussed in-depth at the press conference, but Visit Cincy President and CEO Julie Calvert told me that to put on an event of this magnitude, it takes millions of dollars.
“It’s a combination of sponsorships that were raised (and) in-kind commitments made to the event,” she said. “That’s very typical for events like Black Tech Week and others that come here so they’re expensive, but they pay off.”
Calvert said keeping this conference in Cincinnati is all part of the plan to preserve the future of the city.
“That’s why we’re redoing the convention (center) district (downtown) and getting a new hotel so we can get big impactful events like this,” she said.
Pureval called Black Tech Week’s success the city’s success.
“We’re going to continue building on this one-of-a-kind event with all of our partners to make sure Cincinnati is the go-to hub for innovation and diverse young creators,” he said.
Kimm Lauterbach, president and CEO of REDI Cincinnati, also spoke at the press conference. She shared data that helps paint the picture of why Cincinnati is such a massive player in the world of business.
“Our market continues to shine as a leader for new business and talent, coming in at No. 1 in the nation for the highest percentage of minority-owned businesses that have been in operation for six years or more,” Lauterbach said. “(We’re) the No. 2 city for successful minority business enterprises, the No. 1 best city for new graduates and the No. 9 metro for women in tech.”
Brackeen called the Queen City’s diverse and inclusive community a “fertile ground for creativity and innovation.”
“It is a place where ideas from different cultures and backgrounds converge,” she said. “This diversity is not our strength, it’s our superpower. Cincinnati’s thriving business community provides the perfect backdrop for a Black tech conference.”
Black Tech Week 2024 will take place the week of July 16 through 20 at the Aronoff Center.
The conference was founded in 2015 in Miami. It celebrated its second year in the Queen City this July, drawing more than 3,000 attendees. That's more than double the headcount from 2022, when the event generated an estimated $7.8 million in economic impact.
Lightship Foundation successfully acquired Black Tech Week, a minority tech ecosystem-building festival, from its original founders, Felecia Hatcher and husband Derick Pearson in March 2022. Black Tech Week relocated to Over-the-Rhine and Music Hall that July.
The conference features curated social events and startup growth-focused programming tailored to founders of color, women, people with disabilities and LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs. This year's event featured more than 50 workshops and 100 speakers, including a keynote address from actress, writer and producer Issa Rae, best known for her HBO series "Insecure.”
In October, the brand expanded with its first spin-off Black Tech Weekend in Detroit, considered an abbreviated version of the main Black Tech Week conference.
