The New York City Department of Small Business Services hosted its third-annual NYC Small Business Month Expo on Thursday, May 28, at 60 Pine Street in Manhattan, offering free resources, consultations, workshops and networking to business owners from all five boroughs. The free, citywide event brought all of New York City government under one roof, and the agency said more than 6,000 New Yorkers registered to attend the daylong event, which ran from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
According to the department, the expo was built around what it described as the six top challenges facing city small business owners: funding a business, growing a business, finding and retaining talent, building a customer base, saving time and money, and accessing legal services. SBS said the programming was aimed at owners at every stage of growth and across every industry, and that all New Yorkers planning to start, grow or operate a small business were encouraged to register online or through the NYC Small Business Month website.
The agency said registered attendees were eligible to sign up in advance for free one-on-one or small-group consultations with experts on-site. Those sessions, according to SBS, covered business consultations, commercial lease assistance, financial and legal consultations, government contracting, M/WBE certification application support, M/WBE mentors and vendor services, the NYC SBS APEX Accelerator and PASSPort office hours. The department said the appointments were first-come, first-served until capacity was reached.
SBS laid out a schedule that opened with an 8 a.m. networking hour for industry experts in food and beverage, nightlife, cannabis and street vending, followed by a resource fair running from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Opening remarks were set for 9:30 to 10:15 a.m., with the speaking program beginning at 9:30 a.m. and a midday workshop on using social media scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The department said SBS Commissioner Kenny Minaya, officials from the Mamdani administration, small business owners and industry leaders would be available for questions. Among the speakers the agency listed were Julie Su, deputy mayor for economic justice; Minaya; and Council Member Shanel Thomas-Henry, chair of the Council’s Committee on Small Business, according to the advisory.
