June 22, 2020 - Worcester Business Journal

Opinion

🔒Racism starts in your heart

Since the rest of the nation doesn't have the same experience with police, some see this as a black people issue, and others look at our country’s history and determine it’s a white people issue. Really, though, this is a human issue.

Banking & Finance

🔒Movers & Shakers for June 22, 2020

Companies with new hires and promotions include ERA Key Realty Services, bankHometown, Clinton Savings Bank, The Junior League of Worcester, AdCare Hospital in Worcester and more.

Small Business

🔒Q&A: Soxcessful founder Michael Agbortoko Jr. helps clients dream big

Michael Agbortoko, Jr. founded Soxcessful in Worcester’s Midtown Mall last year, both as a space for creatives and a business linking clients up with manufacturers all over the world.

News

🔒Editorial: Don’t be left on the sidelines

In times of crisis, both the economy and people’s way of thinking can undergo a paradigm shift. For nimble business owners, it is important to recognize these shifts, change with the times, and even stay ahead of the curve in order to ensure your company’s long-term survival.

Advice

🔒101: Making statements

Whether concerning COVID-19 changes or reaction to racial issues after the death of George Floyd – a black man killed by a white Minneapolis police officer – company statements have been issued at a furious pace.

Advice

🔒Don’t choose a family member to manage your estate plan

It’s a scenario straight out of a movie: An oldest adult child is named the trustee or personal representative of a parent’s trust or will and before you know it, the whole family is fighting over everything from money to property to funeral arrangements.

Advice

🔒10 Things I know about … Building relationships during a pandemic

Reviewing your clients and contacts helps promote their business and shows them you really care enough to contribute (maybe they’ll do the same for you).

Advice

🔒What will you do going forward?

I’m tired of racism. I’m tired of it on a personal micro level, and I’m seething at the truth of its existence embedded within every macro-structure of our country.

Banking & Finance

🔒Startups are forced to innovate as pandemic has investors uneasy

With the coronavirus remaining a part of life in the United States and the national economy now in a recession, startups are facing a time when survival could be more difficult than it has in years.

Diversity & Inclusion

🔒Racial inequalities persist in the Central Mass. cannabis industry

More than two years have passed since entrepreneur Ross Bradshaw embarked on the licensing process to open New Dia, a recreational cannabis dispensary in Worcester.

Diversity & Inclusion

🔒Role of CEOs on societal issues has shifted

It wasn’t long ago CEOs were notably absent from such societal debates. For decades, business heads were advised not to talk about hot-button issues such as religion or politics.

Diversity & Inclusion

🔒As one of the few Central Mass. black business leaders, David Connell makes sure the YMCA is committed to the community

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread protesting against racial inequality, the YMCA of Central Massachusetts’ doors are always open to continue to work towards equality with all groups.

Diversity & Inclusion

🔒Black businesses matter: Despite their importance to disadvantaged communities, black-owned businesses comprise less than 1% of Worcester County firms

At such a perilous time, the Worcester County business community is hampered by an uncomfortable problem: In the homogeneous world of business leadership in Worcester County, top officials at the area’s largest and best-known institutions are almost entirely white.

Diversity & Inclusion

🔒A letter from WBJ: Picking up the fight against institutional racism

The killing of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, filmed for us all to witness, was truly horrific. The nation, and for that matter the world, has borne witness to the senselessness of his death, and responded with a call to action unlike any time in the past.

Health Care

Mass. opioid deaths fell 6% at the start of 2020

Opioid deaths across Massachusetts fell 5.7% during the first quarter of this year compared to 2019, according to new state data reported Wednesday.

June 22, 2020Edition

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