Events

This year's conference serves to connect business owners with what is happening in our region to help businesses BUILD. GROW. SCALE.

We are excited to announce that this is the first time ever the Richland County Office of Small Business Opportunity (OSBO) is collaborating with the City of Columbia Office of Business Opportunities (OBO) for our 6th annual event!

​​Our weekly, casual coffee meetup for the tech startup community. Join us every Wednesday morning at 8:00 at the BIC for coffee and conversations.

Join us for an electrifying AMA with Lindsey Breitwieser, Fractional CMO extraordinaire on September 18th at 4pm - HYBRID.

​Let Lindsey unlock game-changing insights on:

​📊 How to Harness Data in Marketing
🤝 Marketing & Sales: Not As Different As You Think
⏰ The Time Tested Skills of a Master Marketer
✨ The 3 Part Framework That Will Change The Way You Approach Marketing

​AS A BONUS she has prepared a presentation on: "Three Marketing Secrets of Eight-Figure Brands" 🤫 should folks be interested to hear more. What is Lindsey's superpower? Turning consumer brands into profit powerhouses!

​🎟️ Don't miss out! RSVP now and #GrowCola

No code? Nada problem! Come take advantage of Nick Yaggie's office hours at the BIC and bring all of your no-code questions!

Do you have some Intellectual Property you need to protect? Then register for this one-hour, free webinar. Learn more from an accomplished attorney in the field of patents, trademarks, and copyrights.

What you will learn:

• What qualifies as Intellectual Property?
• Do you need a copyright, patent, or trademark?
• What is the USPTO?
• What are the costs?

In today’s evolving work landscape, remote teams are becoming increasingly prevalent. Maintaining employee engagement and fostering a sense of connection among team members can pose significant challenges. This session will focus on equipping managers and team leads with the strategies needed to support and enhance employee engagement within remote teams.

Benji Mitchell is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of a relatively unknown but vastly experienced brand identity and web design company in Columbia, Creative+. The small but mighty team delivers creative design solutions for mission-driven organizations and businesses across South Carolina and beyond. While Benji’s designs have garnered global recognition, locally you may recognize his simple, iconic style in the brand identities for Columbia Chamber, Kiki’s Chicken & Waffles, Richland One, Sustain South Carolina, First Baptist Church, Lighthouse for Life, and 100s more.

​Benji helps great organizations have great design. He’s ready to answer your questions about what makes a good logo and how to ensure that your branding effectively supports and enhances your mission.

​AMA Overview

• ​What is the difference between logo and brand?
• ​What makes a good logo?
• ​Why does having a good logo matter?

Our monthly happy hour is BACK! Join us for Third Thursday this week at 5:00 for the greatest mash up of community in Five Points including:

​🍻 Yachtails, beer, and wine on the house;
🎶 Live music from DJ Wayne Pankey;
🧑‍🎨 A NEW art collection curated by the fabulous Tabitha Ott of WONDER

​Come early at 4pm to get your questions answered during our AMA!

You're invited to join Ten at the Top to dive into the world of downtown revitalization with our series that takes you on-site to 10 of the Upstate's downtowns. Prior to each meeting, the participants will receive a short video to highlight the month’s theme. The group will meet in the designated community for a tour of the downtown, which will include local guests. At the end of each evening, the cohort will eat at a local downtown restaurant and discuss how the theme was applied. Participation is limited to 25 attendees. Each participant is responsible for their transportation and dinner.

Contrary to popular belief, you don't need to be creative or have a magical 'aha' moment to find a great startup idea. In reality, anyone can come up with innovative business ideas by following a structured process. On this live event, Jonathan Greechan (Co-Founder & CEO of Founder Institute) will share a framework for crafting great startup ideas that he has learned from working with over 10K startups worldwide. Then, attendees will have the opportunity to share their ideas, get feedback from others, and meet aspiring entrepreneurs interested in their space. If you have rough ideas and don't know what to do next, this is the event to attend!

In this course, you will learn key elements of business finance basics to manage your cash flow, explore ways to expand your business, and understand insurance for your business.

Miranda Teague and Cheryl Meeks from Truist Bank will facilitate the session and will provide valuable take-away resources to help you and your business.

Agenda:

• Improve the cash flow of your business
• Continue to build and expand your business
• Protect your business

​​Our weekly, casual coffee meetup for the tech startup community. Join us every Wednesday morning at 8:00 at the BIC for coffee and conversations.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) provides several programs to help small businesses win federal contracts. Participation in these programs helps small businesses win a fair share of federal contracts, qualify for exclusive set-aside & sole-source contracts, partner with established contractors to win contracts, and get business mentoring & education to learn how federal contracting works. The Contract assistance programs covered in this webinar are:

• Small Disadvantaged Businesses
• Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program
• Veteran Contracting Assistance Program
• 8(a) Business Development Program
• SBA Mentor-Protege program
• Joint Ventures
• HUBZone program
• Natural Resource Sales Assistance Program

Building a great Co-Founder team is one of the most difficult yet important steps in founding a startup. While many founders may start alone, there are multiple benefits of having a Co-Founder, and taking the time to establish a quality team can mean the difference between failure and success. Join us for this fun and interactive event where you will learn best practices for building and formalizing a Co-Founder relationship. In addition, you will have the opportunity to network with other entrepreneurs who are looking for a Co-Founder at virtual tables and speed networking sessions.

No code? Nada problem! Come take advantage of Nick Yaggie's office hours at the BIC and bring all of your no-code questions!

Since 2019, the B2B Sales & Marketing Exchange has brought together thousands of B2B practitioners looking to level up their approach to revenue generation. This year, we’re reimagining our event with the B2B Marketing Exchange East (#B2BMX East). This change symbolizes more than a new venue and host location; it’s an invitation to explore innovative strategies and bold ideas that will shape sales and marketing in 2025 and beyond. Experience an event designed for marketers by marketers, aiming to empower, inspire and equip you with the tools to make significant moves for your brand and your career.

In this course, you'll learn the "why" and "how" of separating your business and personal finances that can set you and your business up for success.

Miranda Teague and Cheryl Meeks from Truist Bank will facilitate the session and provide valuable take-away resources to help you and your business.

Agenda:

1. Why separate personal and business finances?
2. How to set and refresh business goals.
3. How to pay yourself.
4. Business structure and organization.
5. How to organize your finances.
6. Financial accounts and tools.

​​Our weekly, casual coffee meetup for the tech startup community. Join us every Wednesday morning at 8:00 at the BIC for coffee and conversations.

To launch a great startup, it is critical to get feedback on your ideas from entrepreneurs who have been there and done that. At this live online event, we will gather several startup experts who are ready to provide feedback for aspiring entrepreneurs. The event will start by providing guidelines to create a compelling elevator pitch, and then attendees will have the opportunity to share their pitch with other entrepreneurs, advisors, and investors at virtual tables for instant feedback. Even if you don't want to share your pitch, you can still join to hear other startup ideas and witness how the experts review a pitch.

In this course, you will learn why businesses borrow, where to turn for funding, and how the lending process works to get you to a smoother, smarter, and often more successful outcome.

Miranda Teague and Cheryl Meeks from Truist Bank will facilitate the session and will provide valuable take-away resources to help you and your business.

Agenda:

• Why businesses need funds
• Where to find funding
• How to select the right type of financing
• What lenders look for
• The borrowing process
• How to create your business borrowing profile
• Next steps after a financing decision

Guest Speaker - Bernie Mazyck, SC Association for Community Economic Development

Do you want to ask questions to startup investors about fundraising in a friendly, judgment-free environment? Are you looking to raise funding in the future, and want to learn what investors look for and how they evaluate potential investments? Then join us for this live, interactive Q&A event featuring VC's and other investors from our FI Venture Network - the Founder Institute's global network of investors actively funding early-stage startups. Don't miss this opportunity to expand your network and ask in-depth questions.

Enhance Your Business With Data Protection

When it comes to business, don't skimp on protecting your data, This is more than cybersecurity. As a small business owner, what are you doing to protect yourself? What are the most valuable data categories you will have? What is your biggest weakness? Join our free, one-hour webinar to learn more.

What you will learn:

• Self-Audit
• Updates
• Passphrases
• Malice Protection
• Backups
• Email Protection

Contrary to popular belief, you don't need to be creative or have a magical 'aha' moment to find a great startup idea. In reality, anyone can come up with innovative business ideas by following a structured process. At this live event, Jonathan Greechan (Co-Founder & CEO of Founder Institute) will share a framework for crafting great startup ideas that he has learned from working with over 10K startups worldwide. Then, attendees will have the opportunity to share their ideas, get feedback from others, and meet aspiring entrepreneurs interested in their space. If you have rough ideas and don't know what to do next, this is the event to attend!

Great companies start with great people, so the Founder Institute startup accelerator has been collecting social science data since 2009 to identify the personality traits that correlate with building great startups. On this live and interactive online event, Jonathan Greechan (Co-Founder & CEO of the Founder Institute) will share exclusive insights and data collected from over 15 years of research, 175,000 social science assessments, and 7,000 launched companies. If you are interested in learning the components of "Entrepreneur DNA", then don't miss this candid and informative event.

Skills-Based Hiring

Unlock the potential of your workforce during this interactive webinar, designed to transform your hiring practices and fuel business success. Learn practical methods for identifying and hiring candidates based on their skills and potential rather than traditional qualifications, ensuring a better fit for your company's needs and fostering long-term employee satisfaction. This dynamic session will delve into the benefits of a skills-based hiring approach, and provide actionable strategies that will not only enhance your hiring practices but also position your business for sustainable growth and success.

What you will learn:

• How skills-based hiring will combat talent turnover and grow your business.
• The return and positive impact skills-based hiring have for small businesses and underserved talent from the military, diverse-ability, and justice-involved communities.
• How skills-based hiring helps win business and government contracts.