chapter has a long tradition of supporting entrepreneurs that desire to become business owners within the IT industry. In fact, the topic of the September 2007 program meeting in Memphis will focus on Emerging Entrepreneurial Development.The presenter for the meeting will be Sylvester Tate, owner of Tate Computers & Copiers. Mr. Tate has been in business for 15 years and is one of the leading Black-owned businesses in sales and repair of computer equipment. Mr. Tate, a Navy veteran, gained his experience in electronics, while serving aboard some of the Navy's finest aircraft carriers. Tate Computers & Copiers has successfully held computer contracts with Time-Warner Cable (now Comcast), the University of Memphis, Memphis Light Gas & Water, FedEx and a host of other corporations. Currently, Tate Computers has the contract with the Tennessee State Lottery to repair or replace all lottery ticket machines in the state.
The logistics of the event are as follows.
Location: Center for Emerging Entrepreneurial Development
158 Madison Avenue, Suite 300
Memphis, Tennessee 38103
We hope you will plan to attend (and bring business cards for the door prize giveaway)! You can RSVP with chapter president Nancy Ford by email (memphis@bdpa.org) or phone (901.508-3003).
Are there any readers from the state of Tennessee online? If so, please POST A COMMENT about your BDPA experiences for our BETF-Blog readers to see. Can you tell that we are BEGGING for some of y'all to leave comments here on the BETF-Blog (smile)!?!
2 comments:
Anyone online from Memphis that can tell us on the Sep 2007 program meeting turned out?
This recap issued by BDPA Memphis chapter (Nancy Ford) recently -->
"Recap from September Meeting
Sylvester Tate owner of Tate Computer Systems, has been in the technology industry for 20 years since starting the company in 1985 while a student at Memphis State University. He went on to graduate from Memphis State University with an emphasis on Electronics and Technology.
Mr. Tate later served active duty in the United States Navy for 7 years and retired after 17 years of service to focus more on the growth of his company. The specialized training he received in the military was instrumental in helping him secure his first significant contract.
Mr. Tate's first major contract was with FedEx Express. It consisted of rewiring all the of campus-wide headset equipment. As the business began to grow Memphis State University (Mr. Tate's Alma mater) contracted his services to repair campus-wide typing equipment. He later gained contracts with Time Warner Cable, Memphis Light Gas & Water and a host of other corporations.
Mr. Tate's largest contract to date occurred two years ago with the Tennessee State Lottery. The contract provides for Tate Computer Systems to repair lottery equipment throughout the entire state of Tennessee.
After the presentation, Mr. Tate answered questions from the audience about how he was able to obtain loans as a minority business and the importance of gaining a good reputation as a business owner. He shared with us that his goal is to continue to build his business in order to provide well-paying opportunities to other ambitious people."
Post a Comment