During the closing of the 38th Annual National Black MBA Association Conference and Exposition’s Entrepreneurial Institute, attendees learned about the NBMBAA’s strategic alliance with the Small Business Administration and had the opportunity to hear firsthand about the signing of the historic Memorandum of Alliance between the two organizations, and what initiatives and collaborative partnerships are being developed specifically for entrepreneurs.
“The National Black MBA [Association] is huge to us because we believe there are huge opportunities for us to expand the brand that is already in existence. The leadership in place, the presidency, Jesse Tyson, we’re glad to have forged a relationship with Mr. Tyson and his staff. We think this partnership is huge. The strategic alliance Memorandum was written on behalf of President Barack Obama by Maria Contreras-Sweet [the 24th Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. We are going to be supportive of your products and programs for years going forward,” says Region IV administrator for the United States Small Business Administration Cassius Butts to attendees.
We were inspired by the touching story of the McBride sisters; two half-sisters, who when they connected as adults collaborated their similar interests, leveraged their unique geographic locations and developed a successful California winery with a team that is 80 percent female.
“We created our first wine in 2009, importing and distributing other people’s wine before we produced our own,” offers Robin McBride. “We are sustainable and family-owned. “We recently produced our limited-release preserve wine from New Zealand.” The reserve wine is from Central Otago, New Zealand where there are dolphins, glaciers, and a rain forest. The water there is likened to the Bahamas. And there are penguins in close proximity to the vineyard.
The dynamic duo, Robin and Andrea McBride, founded the McBride Sisters Wine Company, and are breaking ground in a field dominated by White men. They shared their vision and gave us insight into their journey.
“Eco.Love is the first wine company we established. It encompasses people and planet. We know the climate is changing. We created a company that will take care of the people in our community that we work with and our environment,” adds Andrea McBride. The McBride sisters are hosting a wine tasting and education tour in 2017.
