Last week I attended the National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators and Developers (NABHOOD). It was a wonderful event held in Miami (never a bad place for a conference). I attended the Deep Sea Fishing and Shark Outing supporting the NABHOOD Scholarship. As a part of team Marriott we were able to catch a Kingfish, Black Fin Tuna, and a Bonito. I don’t want to brag (of course I do) but my fish was huge. OK, it was about 25 lbs, but it looked like 100.
Minority ownership is very near and dear to my heart, and it was great to see the variety of businesses and the diverse backgrounds of the people in attendance. I was moved by the speech given by Hank Thomas, who was one of the original Freedom Writers and a current a hotel owner. His message for all of us was we have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go.
Supporting the hotel business is a new industry for Tolbert Enterprise Your HR Department so it was a perfect environment to learn what these owners, operators, developers and vendors are experiencing with their employees. Having employees in a small business can be challenging and filled with unexpected issues, but with respect and training you can protect you and your business from major problems.
I want to provide you with some information on NABHOOD. The organization’s mission is to:
“Increase the number of African-Americans developing, managing, operating and owning hotels; increase vendor opportunities & executive level jobs for minorities, thereby creating wealth within the African-American community”
You can also get more information from the website at www.nabhood.org.
Finally, NABHOOD did a wonderful job of exposing young African American students with the potential to become hotel operators and owners through the Student Leadership Program. They had about 60 students attend the event from Philadelphia to North Carolina.
I just want to say great job NABHOOD and I look forward to your event next year!
HR is all about service and being a resource!
Be S.M.A.R.T. (next weeks blog)!
El
