ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Florida’s growth is brimming with opportunity for business owners, and during National Black Business Month, Tampa Bay entrepreneurs are preparing to host a community fair in St. Petersburg to highlight local businesses.
For Katrina Smith Headley, “it’s all about family” isn’t just a phrase, it describes how her family’s business, Heavy’s Restaurant and Takeout, started.
“My dad cooked for a lot of people, so all his friends wanted to come over to my house, and his food was so heartfelt, that we never had enough,” said Headley, who helps run Headley’s in St. Pete. “The food is made with love, and he has recipes that we follow while he’s gone.”
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Katrina’s brother, Kendrick Scott, opened Heavy’s Restaurant & Takeout as a food truck about 11 years ago and opened a brick-and-mortar location on South 22nd Street three years ago.
Headley said her late grandmother always tried to build relationships with customers and guide them.
“A lot of the young men who come in call me ‘Auntie’ and I call them ‘Nephew’ so it really has a family feel to it,” Headley says.
A few blocks away, on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street South, Elaine Chambliss Dorgan felt that familiarity and opened an art studio, Echambliss Art, in the neighborhood where she grew up.
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“The businesses here were predominantly black-owned. There was a dentist across the street, so even though I was a new entrepreneur, I felt comfortable,” Dorgan said.
Oil painting was not her main profession: Dogan was previously a draftsman before starting to create stories through art.
“When I started painting, I started painting instruments because I loved instrumental music,” Dogan said.
Florida is home to about 18,000 Black-owned businesses statewide, the most in the nation, according to the Pew Research Center.
“Obviously, it’s always the weather, but another reason is that St. Petersburg is committed to diversity and inclusion of small businesses,” said George Smith, economic development manager for the South St. Petersburg Community Redevelopment District.
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Some of that effort will be on display Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Neighborhood Commerce Business Expo at St. Pete’s Greenhouse, 440 Second Avenue North. The event aims to highlight some of the local Black-owned businesses, from food to handmade goods, as part of National Black Business Month.
August is the month to celebrate Black-owned businesses across the country, and the Tampa Bay area is an attractive location for new entrepreneurs.
“There’s a lot of jobs and opportunity and growth in the downtown area and there’s something coming soon in the historic gas plant area, so this is a great opportunity and a great place for small businesses to get involved,” Smith said.
There are also efforts to increase opportunities for city contracts. According to city officials in Tampa, the number of black-owned businesses certified by the city as minority or diverse suppliers for contract work increased from 144 as of May 1, 2018, to 153 as of May 1, 2019.
In fiscal year 2023, City of Tampa contracts, which include road construction, plumbing and janitorial services, are expected to be awarded in total about $2.9 million.
For anyone who considers themselves entrepreneurial, local businesses have a message for you.
“If that’s really what’s in their mind, I would encourage them to pursue it,” Dorgan said.
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