On Tuesday, October 6, I was at the Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport for the 8th Annual Mass Black Expo, hosted by the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts (BECMA). I sat down for a keynote conversation at 11:30 a.m. ET, and afterward I signed copies of Capitalism for All at a luncheon reception.

The theme this year is Building Black Wealth: Small Business, Big Impact, and BECMA has built the day around something I believe deeply. Economist Andre Perry’s research shows that growing the number of successful sole proprietors has a compounding effect on wealth creation. When a one-person business lands its first real contract, it starts hiring, and its owner becomes the role model the kids on that block never had. That is the thinking behind 1 Million Black Businesses at Operation HOPE, and it sits at the heart of BECMA’s Ready Set Contract work.

The full program is strong: a Black-Owned Pavilion with more than 50 businesses from across the Commonwealth, procurement matchmaking, panels on cooperative economics, AI for small teams and the green economy, a Senator-to-Senator fireside chat with Senator Ed Markey, and a conversation with Attorney General Andrea Campbell.

Event: Mass Black Expo 2026, Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport, Boston, October 6, 2026. Hosted by the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts.