With over 35 virtual sessions the day-long experience will
feature an all-star lineup of leaders from innovative brands and
organizations to help small businesses do more business.
For more than 60 years, American Express (NYSE: AXP) has been
committed to supporting the small business community. American
Express is continuing that commitment with a unique virtual
experience, bringing resilient entrepreneurs together from coast to
coast for “Business Class LIVE: Summit for Success” on October 20,
2020. While the Summit is typically held in-person, this year
American Express has built a fully immersive, proprietary Amex
Virtual Campus to host the day-long experience for thousands of
small businesses. The Summit aims to address small business owners’
needs by providing networking, resources, and tools to help them
navigate challenging times and continue on a path towards growth —
all at no cost to attendees. The Summit will also host several
sessions dedicated to supporting the specific needs of
minority-owned businesses.
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The Amex Virtual Campus – Conservatory
(Photo: Business Wire)
“The COVID-19 crisis has challenged small businesses in more
ways than one - employee health and safety, supply chain
disruptions, running businesses from living rooms with
homeschooling in between and more. It’s shown us all how resilient
small businesses can be, while also revealing many pressing
questions.” said Clayton Ruebensaal, EVP of Global B2B Marketing at
American Express. “We designed this year’s Summit to answer many of
the questions small businesses have today: How do I pivot? What’s
the best way to market my business online? What’s the best way to
get a loan? How do I stay healthy while working-from-home? We’re
doing it by bring together the right content, speakers and
networking opportunities, in an unexpectedly engaging way, to help
small business owners turn uncertainty into opportunity.”
To measure how the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted the
country’s entrepreneurial spirit, American Express asked small and
mid-sized business (SMB) owners about their feelings toward
entrepreneurship. The recent American Express Business Resiliency
Survey* found:
- Despite the economic downturn, 75% of entrepreneurs are
optimistic about the recovery of their business, and 86% expect
their business to fully recover in less than five years.
- Right now, business owners are looking for support in
identifying new growth opportunities (44%), marketing, branding,
and social media (41%) and managing their cash flow (37%).
- The top three resources business owners would find most helpful
in navigating these unprecedented times are virtual business
conferences/webinars (47%), virtual networking events (44%), and
advice and resources about leading through a crisis (44%).
- 81% of business owners still believe the benefits of owning
their own business outweigh the challenges.
“Business Class LIVE: Summit for Success” was built to address
many of the needs the survey uncovered - from access to capital to
leadership to personal enrichment - by tapping into American
Express’ deep relationships with small business customers and the
business community at large. The Summit is a key part of the
company’s journey to digitize and democratize business education
through ‘Business Class by American Express,’ a modern business education initiative for
today’s leaders. Business Class comes to life through world-class
business know-how, essential insights, and inspirational stories to
help people navigate the current environment.
What to Expect within the Amex Virtual Campus
This year’s virtual, yet immersive, event will continue to
provide the access and experience people have come to expect from
American Express, with a platform that will enable learning,
discovery and real-time connections. With over 35 exciting and
informative sessions featuring trailblazing speakers from a variety
of industries, the Summit will cover a range of relevant and timely
topics. Each session will fall into one of four tracks:
- Good for Business: Tools to help grow and operate a
business
- Good for People: Tools to help stay balanced, inspired, and
motivated to fuel success
- Good for Community: Workshops and tips on building a
cross-cultural business community
- Business Stories: Hear how business owners have pivoted, the
lessons learned, and tips to unleash growth potential
Key themes at this year’s Summit will be business resilience and
pivots, reflecting the findings of the American Express Business
Resiliency Survey. The majority (82%) of business owners say the
pandemic has made them change the way they think about business
operations, and 82% believe they are now more prepared to handle
future crises. The survey also found that nearly half (42%) had to
change their business model to maintain revenues, and 34% are
currently in the process of pivoting their business. Among those
who already pivoted, approximately seven in ten (73%) expect they
will have to pivot again in the next year.
When asked what they miss from pre-pandemic times, 33% of
business owners said networking with other business owners. Summit
attendees will be able to participate in American Express’
“Contract Connections” program, where one-on-one meetings will be
facilitated between suppliers and buyers from government agencies
and large corporations to discuss real business opportunities.
As part of American Express’ commitment to support
entrepreneurs, the company recognizes and continues to back
minority-owned businesses, many of which are experiencing some of
the most debilitating challenges within the small business
community. For example, a high priority for all business owners, as
well as Black business owners, is access to capital, as 77% of
Black business owners (compared to 74% of all SMBs) identify this
as important. Additionally, women business owners identify managing
cash flow issues as a top priority (80%) for the next year. The
Summit will offer dedicated sessions to address these vital needs
not only for women- and black-owned businesses, but also to meet
challenges faced by LGBTQ+- and Latino-owned businesses.
American Express has partnered with the U.S. Black Chamber,
L’ATTITUDE, the Women Presidents’ Organization and more, to help
bring some of these dedicated sessions to life:
- “We’re thrilled to join American Express’ Summit for Success,
as they recognize the impact of telling the stories of women-owned
and led businesses navigating these challenging times,” said
Camille Burns, CEO of Women Presidents’ Organization. “Despite the
growing number of women-owned businesses and their undeniable
impact, we’re still finding ways to equal the playing field by
backing women entrepreneurs and providing them with key resources,
including networking opportunities like Summit, to help them grow
and thrive.”
- “Black-owned businesses have been hit the hardest by the
pandemic. We’re thankful American Express is continuing their
support for Black business owners by providing resources to address
opportunity gaps and help Black-owned businesses recover from the
pandemic,” said Ron Busby, President, U.S. Black Chamber. “We look
forward to sharing and hearing solutions to safeguard Black-owned
businesses during this year’s Summit.”
- “Just as Latino businesses were hit the hardest in the Great
Recession, history has repeated itself with COVID-19. And just as
U.S Latino small businesses led our country in its recovery during
the past decade, they again are poised to lead America’s recovery
now. They have proven to be the most resilient in spite of also
being the most under-capitalized,” said Sol Trujillo, President of
L’ATTITUDE. “I applaud American Express for the opportunity to talk
about the road ahead for U.S. Latino business owners and how we can
work together to provide them with what they need most to continue
to lead our New Mainstream Economy”
Business owners can register and view the full agenda for
Business Class LIVE: Summit for Success here, with registration
closing on October 18, 2020.
*American Express Business Resilience Survey
Methodology:
Findings are based on results of two separate online surveys.
One was conducted among a nationally representative sample of 1,000
Americans 18 years of age and older living in the United States.
The second survey was conducted among 1,000 small- and mid-sized
business owners in the United States whose revenue ranges from
$500K-$300M. The small- and mid-sized business owner survey was
weighted to be representative of US census regions. The surveys
were conducted by a third-party vendor and completed between
September 8-23, 2020. The margin of error (MOE) for the total
sample at the 95% confidence level is +/- 3 percentage points.
ABOUT AMERICAN EXPRESS American Express is a globally
integrated payments company, providing customers with access to
products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build
business success. Learn more at americanexpress.com and connect
with us on facebook.com/americanexpress,
instagram.com/americanexpress,
linkedin.com/company/american-express, twitter.com/americanexpress,
and youtube.com/americanexpress.
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AMERICAN EXPRESS Margot Leeds Margot.Leeds@aexp.com
M BOOTH AGENCY Amber Harper AmberHa@mbooth.com
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