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The Madison Black Chamber of Commerce and Madison College are launching a new leadership development series for business owners, managers and emerging leaders.
The first installment, a five-session series called “Running the Business, Leading the People,” begins Sept. 14 and runs on alternating Mondays from 6-8 p.m. at the Black Business Hub in Madison.
Single sessions cost $24 for Madison Black Chamber members and $49 for nonmembers. The full five-session series costs $79 for members and $175 for nonmembers. Participants who complete all five sessions earn a Madison College Leadership Development Microcredential.
“Supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses is a core value shared by both the Madison Black Chamber of Commerce and Madison College,” said Camille Carter, president and CEO of the Madison Black Chamber of Commerce. “Through this partnership, we are investing in the people behind these organizations because strong leadership is essential to sustainable growth, workforce development, and a thriving local economy.”
The series is the newest phase of a partnership between the two organizations that Carter said dates back roughly two decades, to when Madison College helped the Black Business Expo get off the ground and assisted the chamber’s founding as the Black Business Association in 2005. That relationship grew into a 2018 entrepreneurship boot camp, which Carter later built into the B² EC (Black and Brown Entrepreneurial Center) program and, eventually, the chamber’s MBCC Means Business curriculum.
“Running the Business, Leading the People” restructures that work into a year-long, cohorted program administered by Madison College and co-branded with the Madison Black Chamber. The program is broken into four modules — leadership development, personal development, business operations and business strategy — delivered across four quarterly series of either five or four sessions each. Participants can register for a single session, a full quarterly series, or the entire year-long program.
“We took elements of a variety of our different entrepreneurial programs and really worked closely with Camille to identify the specific areas of need, the specific areas of interest, to make sure that we had a robust yet customized program for the members of the chamber and people who are involved from the community,” said Shana LaFore, Madison College’s director of corporate partnerships in the School of Professional and Continuing Education.
Carter said the program targets “the entrepreneurial minded individual,” whether that person is running a business, working toward one, or simply seeking leadership skills within an existing job. “It’s for the entrepreneurial minded individual, and that individual can be someone working and have some entrepreneurial aspirations, or looking for some leadership skill sets and really wanting a cohort style learning that really evolves into some entrepreneurial development,” Carter said.
Between sessions, organizers plan optional programming on the alternating Mondays when the cohort isn’t meeting, including skill-building activities and additional community partners. Carter described the combination of curriculum, self-directed work and peer community as “a trifecta that really stands for long term success.” Participants will also have access to one-on-one coaching with Madison College’s entrepreneurs in residence, according to Matthew Garcia, an account executive with the college’s School of Professional and Continuing Education and Business and Customized Services division.
Organizers said they’re aiming for a pilot cohort of at least 20 to 30 people. Instructors are Madison College faculty; Dr. Richard McGregory is set to teach the leadership development and business strategy sessions.
“We’re really proud that a lot of our leaders are coaches of color,” Carter said. “There’s that ethnic component that we really find important, because that cultural competency is a good combination.”
Garcia said the chamber is also working with employers who may cover the cost for their staff. “I actually was meeting with one of our industry partners last week, and they were looking for a leadership [program] for one of their employees,” Garcia said. “I have a leadership series over here that’s going to be going on with the Madison Black Chamber, and they were like, ‘That’s exactly what we’re looking for.'”
LaFore noted the chamber is subsidizing most of the program’s cost for its members. “There is a nominal fee for the student to invest, but the chamber is paying for most of that training,” she said.
Full program details, including the syllabus for each quarter, are available at The Madison Black Chamber of Commerce website, where participants can also register.
