Small Business Playbook August 2023

Small Business Playbook

Small business owners may be looking to brighter days ahead with a new sense of mission and understanding on what it takes to grow a business—from navigating inflation and labor shortages to new ways to secure funding.

CNBC’s Small Business Playbook will bring together some of the top experts in entrepreneurship to offer insight and advice to help your business succeed in the short-term and long-term.

For CNBC Small Business Playbook editorial coverage, stories and video, visit www.cnbc.com/small-business-playbook/.

Speakers

Eva Chen

Eva Chen is a business mentor and brand strategist who proves great branding is not just for big companies, but also for small businesses & entrepreneurs who want to realize their uniqueness and talents. A business consultant and brand strategist for over 20 years, she combines an experienced intuition for what makes her clients stand out with the business expertise to turn ideas into authentic, successful brands.

After leaving Corporate America, she started Brand From Within, a brand strategy consultancy, and then Second Callings, a coaching mentorship for people who want to find fulfillment and have a career or business they never want to retire from. What she has been most passionate about is helping her clients get clarity and confidence as they evolve into the business and brand they always aspired to have.

Dominique Dawes

Owner of the Dominique Dawes Gymnastics & Ninja Academies, Dominique opened the gyms to continue her commitment to developing a healthy and compassionate culture in the sport of gymnastics. Her first academy opened in the midst of a global pandemic, July 2020 and her second location is slated to open in early 2023. Dawes also holds minority ownership of the Washington Spirit of the National Women's Soccer League, and served as the co-chair of the President’s Council for Fitness, Sports and Nutrition under the Obama administration alongside Drew Brees. Alongside LeBron James and Maverick Carter, she recently served as Executive Producer of the Peacock docu-series “Golden”, the journey of USA’s elite gymnasts on the road to the Tokyo Olympics, which has been nominated for a Sports Emmy.

Dawes holds her degree from the University of Maryland and was inducted into UMD's prestigious Hall of Fame in 2022. In 2023, her hometown of Montgomery County, Maryland will honor her career and legacy with a life size statue to continue inspiring the next generation to follow in her footsteps.

As a wife, mother of four, Olympian and business owner, Dominique Dawes has transcended the world of sports, politics, entertainment and culture.

Isabella Casillas Guzman

Isabella Casillas Guzman serves as the 27th Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and was sworn in on Wednesday, March 17, 2021. Administrator Guzman represents the more than 30 million U.S. small businesses and is committed to helping small business owners and entrepreneurs start, grow and be resilient.
A lifelong proponent of small businesses, Guzman grew up as the daughter of a small business owner and learned at a young age how important small businesses are to the communities they serve, the people they employ, and the economies they help power.

Administrator Guzman previously served as Director of the California Office of the Small Business Advocate, a position she held after being appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom in April 2019. In that role, she served as the voice of small businesses and innovative startups in the 5th largest economy in the world. She administered and advocated for programs and initiatives to help small businesses access capital, markets, and networks for stronger outcomes. She and her team helped connect entrepreneurs in every community with the resources needed. As the economic recovery support function coordinator for the state, she focused on resilience and most recently worked to help small businesses access relief during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In California, Administrator Guzman oversaw a network of small business centers focused on expanding assistance to underserved business groups. She launched new public private partnerships and collaborated to deliver cutting edge resources to small businesses, including through initiatives like Get Digital CA to increase technology and e-commerce adoption and Source Diverse Source Local to strengthen supply chain readiness. She advocated fiercely for financial relief for small businesses, leading to the expansion of state supported lending and the largest COVID-19 grant relief program in the nation at over $2.5 billion. Guzman's office launched the Entrepreneurship Task Force to serve as a bridge to small businesses and create content and programs to help strengthen the competitiveness of startup and small firms.

Administrator Guzman has previously served in leadership at the SBA as the agency’s Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor during the Obama-Biden Administration, where she oversaw policy and new program implementation. She was a small business entrepreneur herself, and an advisor to fellow founders including in accelerating technology commercialization and in helping small business contractors leverage the federal marketplace. Administrator Guzman earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business.

Karim Lakhani

Karim R. Lakhani is the Dorothy & Michael Hintze Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He specializes in technology management, innovation, digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI). His innovation-related research is centered around his role as the founder and co-director of the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard and as the principal investigator of the NASA Tournament Laboratory. Karim is known for his original scholarship on open source communities and innovation contests and has pioneered the use of field experiments to help solve innovation-related challenges while simultaneously generating rigorous research in partnership with organizations like NASA, Harvard Medical School, The Broad Institute, TopCoder, The Linux Foundation and various private organizations. His digital transformation research investigates the role of analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) in reshaping business and operating models. This research is complemented through his leadership as co-founder and chair of the The Digital, Data, and Design (D^3) Institute at Harvard and as co-founder and co-chair of the Harvard Business Analytics Program, a university-wide online program transforming mid-career executives into data-savvy leaders.

Karim has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers in leading management, economics and natural science journals, executive-oriented articles in Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review, and Harvard Business School case studies. He is the co-editor of two books from MIT Press on open and distributed innovation models including Revolutionizing Innovation: Users, Communities and Open Innovation (2016) and Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software (2005). He is the co-author of Competing in the Age of AI (2020) a book published by the Harvard Business Review Press. His research has been featured in BusinessWeek, The Boston Globe, The Economist, Fast Company, Inc., MarketWatch, The New York Times, National Public Radio, Science, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, WBUR, WGBH, and Wired.

Karim has taught extensively in Harvard Business School’s MBA, executive, doctoral and online programs. He has co-developed new courses on Digital Innovation & Transformation, Digital Strategy and Innovation, and Laboratory to Market. He co-chairs the HBS executive program on Competing with Big Data and Business Analytics, various custom executive education offerings and developed the HarvardX online course on Technology Entrepreneurship.

Karim was awarded his Ph.D. in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also holds an SM degree in Technology and Policy from MIT, and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Management from McMaster University in Canada. He was a recipient of the Aga Khan Foundation International Scholarship and a doctoral fellowship from Canada's Social Science and Humanities Research Council. Prior to coming to HBS he served as a Lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Karim has also worked in sales, marketing and new product development roles at GE Healthcare and was a consultant with The Boston Consulting Group.

Dana Peterson

Dana Peterson is the Chief Economist & Center Leader of Economy, Strategy & Finance at The Conference Board. Peterson joins The Conference Board from Citi, where for many years she served as a North America Economist and later as a Global Economist. Her wealth of experience extends to the public sector, having also worked at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C.

Dana’s wide-ranging economics portfolio includes analyzing global economic themes having direct financial market implications, including monetary policy; fiscal and trade policy; debt; taxation; ESG; consumption, and demographics. Her work also examined myriad US themes leveraging granular data. In addition, Dana conducted multi-asset research and wrote publications with other Citi research teams – both US and global – including strategists covering rates, equities, credit, foreign exchange, commodities, political analysis, and asset allocation.

Peterson's research has been featured by US and international news outlets, both in print and broadcast. Publications and networks include CNBC, FOX Business, Bloomberg, Thomson-Reuters, CNN Finance, Yahoo Finance, TD Ameritrade, Barron’s, the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal. She is member of the Board of Directors of NBER and NABE, 1st Vice Chair of the New York Association for Business Economics (NYABE), and a member of NBEIC, the Forecasters Club, and the Council on Foreign Relations.

She received an undergraduate degree in Economics from Wesleyan University and a Master of Science degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Amy Wright

Founders of Bitty & Beau's Coffee, Amy and Ben Wright are on a mission to change the way people see people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), especially in the workplace. Proud parents of four children, including two with Down syndrome and one with autism, they are passionate advocates for fostering acceptance and value for people with I/DD.

Inspired by the alarming statistic that 80% of people with I/DD faced unemployment, Amy and Ben took action. In 2016, they founded Bitty & Beau's Coffee, a groundbreaking venture dedicated to creating meaningful employment opportunities for individuals with I/DD. Based in Wilmington, NC, the flagship store thrived, and they have since expanded with 24 additional locations nationwide. At the heart of their enterprise are more than 400 individuals with I/DD, skillfully running the shops and captivating attention from media outlets like TODAY Show, CNN, Good Morning America, BBC, and Harvard Business Review.

Amy's trailblazing efforts have not gone unnoticed, as she has earned prestigious accolades such as the 2017 CNN Hero of the Year, Civitan International World Citizenship Award, Salesforce Service Equality Award, ADAPT Leadership Award, and National Down Syndrome Congress Employer of the Year.

Meanwhile, Ben had a successful career with Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley before founding Dye Creek Capital in 2013. In an inspiring display of dedication, he employed eight part-time Client Hospitality Associates, all adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In 2020, Ben made a significant decision to sell his practice, fully committing his energy to the growth of Bitty & Beau's Coffee. His involvement extended beyond the business, serving as president of the board of Smart Start of New Hanover County, treasurer, and chair of the Investment Committee for the National Down Syndrome Society. He was also appointed to the North Carolina ABLE Program Board of Trustees, where he served two terms.

Together, Amy and Ben Wright embody the spirit of innovation, compassion, and progress. Their journey of creating positive change has touched countless lives and continues to be an inspiring example of how entrepreneurship can create a lasting impact on society.

Ben Wright

Dominic Chu

Dominic Chu is a senior markets correspondent for CNBC, located at the network’s Global Headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. He appears during CNBC’s Business Day programming and contributes to CNBC.com.

Previously, Chu was a New York-based markets correspondent for Bloomberg Television, where he covered the stock, bond, currency and commodities markets. During that time, he interviewed some of the world’s top money managers and business executives, and he also was part of the team that covered Hurricane Sandy and the Boston Marathon bombings. In addition, Chu handled sports business reporting for the network.

Chu brings extensive knowledge of the financial markets, having worked in sales and trading for UBS Investment Bank, mutual fund management for Hennessy Advisors and investment management for Seascape Capital.

He has spoken at numerous industry conferences and was a regular contributor to radio and television outlets across the country.

Chu holds a Bachelor of Science degree in hotel administration from Cornell University.

Sharon Epperson

Sharon Epperson, named one of “12 to Watch in TV News,” can be seen regularly on CNBC television and other media platforms.

As CNBC’s senior personal finance correspondent, Epperson covers the many facets of how people manage, grow and protect their money. Her expertise includes saving and investing for retirement, paying for college, managing mortgage, student loan, credit card and other debt, and building a financial legacy through estate planning.

Preparing your finances for the unexpected is another critical (and personal) aspect of her reporting. In September 2016, Epperson sustained a ruptured brain aneurysm and she nearly lost her life. She has become a staunch advocate for health and wellness issues, raising awareness about brain aneurysms and funding for research. In September 2018, she and her family established “The Sharon Epperson Chair of Research” through the Brain Aneurysm Foundation to provide grants for research on early detection and innovative treatments.

Epperson is a lead contributor to “Invest in You: Ready. Set. Grow.,” a multi-platform financial wellness and education initiative at CNBC in partnership with the micro-investing app Acorns, and developed its companion 8-week learning course and weekly newsletter, “Invest in You: Money 101.” She also contributes to NBC’s TODAY and NBC Nightly News as well as Today.com and NBCNews.com.

Her book, The Big Payoff: 8 Steps Couples Can Take to Make the Most of Their Money-and Live Richly Ever After, was a finalist for the Books for a Better Life Awards, honoring works that have “changed the lives of millions.” She also was a contributing writer for The Experts’ Guide to Doing Things Faster. Her personal finance expertise has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, USA Weekend, Self, Essence, Ebony and TIME, where she had covered business, culture, social issues and health as a correspondent prior to joining CNBC.

Epperson has numerous industry and civic awards, including the Special Achievement Award from the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) and the Savvy Inspiration Award from the non-profit, financial empowerment group Savvy Ladies. She won an Alliance for Women in Media’s Gracie Award for Outstanding Online Host for her “Financial Advisor Playbook” video series on CNBC.com. She has received the Vanguard Award for her distinguished career in business and personal finance reporting from the National Urban League Guild, and the All-Star Award from the Association of Women in Communications. She also has won awards from the New York Festivals, the New York Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists.

Epperson is committed to improving financial literacy, particularly in underserved communities. She was invited to the White House during President Obama’s administration to speak about financial literacy and to moderate a public meeting of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability at the U.S. Treasury Department. She also speaks frequently at conferences and events for local and national organizations, colleges and universities about many facets of personal finance.

An adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, Epperson has also taught courses at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. She enjoys teaching the importance of budgeting and building long-term savings as part of her professional development courses for graduate students.

Epperson received her bachelor’s in sociology and government from Harvard University, a master of international affairs degree from Columbia University, and an honorary doctorate from Carlow University in Pittsburgh. A Pittsburgh native, she has also been inducted into the Hall of Fame at Taylor Allderdice High School, her alma mater.

She currently lives with her husband and two children in Westchester County, N.Y.

Kate Rogers

Kate Rogers joined CNBC in September 2014 as a reporter based at the network's Global Headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Rogers covers small business and entrepreneurship for the network appearing on CNBC's Business Day programming and providing daily stories and videos to CNBC.com. She will also contribute to the network's overall markets coverage.

Previously, Rogers was a personal finance and small business reporter for FOX Business and FOXBusiness.com. While there, she reported across FBN's and FOX News' daily programming. She also created and hosted a web series on entrepreneurship and startups called "Growing Your Business" for FOXBusiness.com.

Prior to FBN, Rogers was a reporter at the Nonprofit Times covering the business aspect of nonprofit management, and was an editor at the Union County Local Source.

Rogers holds a bachelor's degree in English with a concentration in Journalism and a minor in Women's Studies from the University of Delaware.

Renee Grimm

Renee Grimm is Senior Vice President of the Retirement Plan Division at Capital Group, home of American Funds, responsible for the northeast RP division. She has 16 years of industry experience, all with Capital Group. She holds a bachelor’s degree in merchandising from the University of Kentucky. She also holds the Certified Investment Management Analyst® designation. Renee is based in Hoboken, N.J.

Christian Nascimento

Christian Nascimento is Vice President of Product Management & Strategy for Comcast Business, where he is responsible for developing, launching, and managing multiple product lines and service offerings used by businesses of all sizes.

Christian joined Comcast in 2006 and has held leadership roles in both Consumer and Commercial services. He is currently responsible for program and product life cycle for the suite of Commercial Connectivity and Data solutions, including Internet, Metro-Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Commercial Video products. He also has responsibility for digital products & experience, innovation and UX across all of Comcast Business’ product lines.

He holds a Bachelor of Science from Widener University and an MBA from Villanova University, and serves on the Board of Trustees of Widener University.

Regan Yeldell

Regan is the Executive Director of the Comcast RISE program, a philanthropic initiative within Comcast to support, enable and elevate small businesses. She is responsible for the awareness, adoption and distribution of technology enhancements, financial grants and marketing resources tied to supporting thousands of small businesses nationwide.

Shibani Joshi

Shibani Joshi is an experienced journalist who has covered business, technology and general news for global media outlets including ABC News, Fox News Channel, Yahoo! Finance and Huffington Post. She provides commentary on business, technology and lifestyle topics and hosts events for leading corporations.

Previously, Shibani anchored a daily markets show and had her own dedicated segment on TV called “Joshi on Tech” on the Fox Business Network in New York City. In her almost 6-year tenure, she evolved into the dedicated on-air tech reporter at both Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network.

Shibani also reported extensively live on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and NYMex exchanges, covering the 2008 market crash, historic interest rate cuts, record oil prices and the biggest point drop in Dow history (at the time).

Throughout her career, Shibani has interviewed large-cap tech CEOs and executives from companies including Apple, Qualcomm, Google, Sony and Ebay. She has also interviewed execs from Uber, Dropbox, Rent the Runway and Angie’s List in their early stages.

Her unique business perspective stems from real-world corporate experience and a distinguished business education. After double majoring in finance and accounting, she worked as an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley in New York City, where she focused on corporate finance and M&A projects.

Joshi later moved on to Disney/ABC Media Networks, where she was the firm’s Senior Manager of Digital Strategy. In 2014, she created ShibanionTech.com, a blog focused on stories at the intersection of lifestyle and technology.
Shibani teaches at the University of Oklahoma, sits on the Board of Advisors for the Price College of Business at the University of Oklahoma, and served as a Trustee to The Children’s School in La Jolla, California.

Shibani is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and holds an MBA from The Harvard Business School. She currently lives in the Bay Area with her 3 children.

Caroline Woods

NYC-based video presenter and producer with extensive experience in all areas of television and digital video development and production, including anchoring, reporting, writing, producing, interviewing, editing, social media, hiring and team development. Organized, detail-oriented and collaborative leader with comprehensive experience in business news, media training and startups.

AGENDA

1:00pm

Welcome

Economic Outlook: What’s Up with Inflation

Inflation remains the number one concern among small business owners across all industries. With interest rates at their highest level in over twenty-two years, and the threat of an economic recession continuing to linger, we’ll examine the economic outlook for the remainder of 2023, and beyond, and what it means for your business.

Dana Peterson, The Conference Board Chief Economist
Interviewer: Kate Rogers, CNBC Restaurant & Small Business Correspondent

Hiring Playbook: Targeting Untapped Talent

Finding qualified workers continues to be a top challenge, but the founders of a fast-growing franchise believe they have come up with the perfect solution. They’ll share their story of building their business by employing workers from an untapped demographic, and how you can, too.

Amy and Ben Wright, Bitty & Beau’s Coffee Owners
Moderator: Sharon Epperson, CNBC Senior Personal Finance Correspondent

Skills Session: Using AI to Optimize Your Business

The hype around artificial intelligence platforms like ChatGPT has reached fever pitch, with many predicting it has the potential to transform the way businesses operate. We’ll learn how business owners should be thinking about AI, and specific ways in which they can tap into this new technology to optimize operations, enhance the customer experience, and drive growth.

Karim Lakhani, Harvard Business School Dorothy & Michael Hintze Professor of Business Administration
Interviewer: Kristina Partsinevelos, CNBC Reporter

Strategy Sessions

HELPING SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS TAKE STEPS TOWARDS RETIREMENT PLANNING

Sponsored and Programmed by Capital Group

The most important aspect of planning for retirement is getting started, so why are some small businesses still only thinking about offering their employees a retirement plan? The priorities of employers and their employees may not always be aligned. Plus, there may be persistent misperceptions surrounding the Secure Act 2.0. Understanding the benefits and the incentives provided by this legislation, as well as retirement plan mandates in some states, will empower more owners to set themselves and their employees up for a stronger financial future.
Renee Grimm, Capital Group SVP of Retirement Plans
Interviewer: Caroline Woods, Financial Journalist

ENABLING ENTREPRENEURS WITH TECHNOLOGY AND PARTNERSHIP

Sponsored and Programmed by Comcast Business

It’s no secret that technology is a critical component of any successful business today. To be competitive, small businesses need to keep pace with the latest technology and find partnerships that drive impact. But it’s not with technology alone that companies will thrive—they also need to be savvy about planning, strategy and leadership. This session will help entrepreneurs overcome some of the challenges of running a small business, including keeping up with new technology, plus offer up solutions to help propel their businesses forward by forging critical technology partnerships.

Christian Nascimento, Comcast Business VP, Product Management & Strategy
Regan Yeldell, Comcast RISE Executive Director
Moderator: Shibani Joshi, Financial Journalist

Accessing Capital to Drive Growth

Despite continued economic uncertainty, growth opportunities do currently exist for small businesses. But growth often requires capital, which has become a major focus of the Small Business Administration. We’ll discuss the agency’s programs that offer financial assistance, and access, for US-based small business owners, and what the govt is doing to elevate businesses from historically marginalized groups.

Admin. Isabella Casillas Guzman, U.S. Small Business Administration
Interviewer: Kate Rogers, CNBC Restaurant & Small Business Correspondent

How to Apply an Olympic Mindset to Entrepreneurship

Athletes and entrepreneurs possess similar qualities, like grit, determination, and perseverance. A three-time Olympic gymnast will join us to share how she is now applying the same mindset that earned her a gold medal to her newest endeavor as a small business owner, and how you can too.

Dominique Dawes, Olympian, Owner, Dominique Dawes Gymnastics & Ninja Academies
Interviewer: Dominic Chu, CNBC Senior Markets Correspondent

The Exchange

Are you experiencing challenges running your small business?
Now’s your chance to receive advice straight from the experts!
During this interactive forum, we’ll be answering your questions on how to best navigate the obstacles that are holding your business back and help keep you on the path to success.

Eva Chen, SCORE Business Mentor and Brand Strategist
Moderator: Sharon Epperson, CNBC Senior Personal Finance Correspondent

2:30pm

Event concludes

Learn More

REGISTRATION FOR CNBC’S SMALL BUSINESS PLAYBOOK IS NOW CLOSED. PLEASE EMAIL EVENTS@CNBC.COM TO CONNECT WITH OUR AUDIENCE TEAM.

Past Speakers

Contact

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

SPEAKER + EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS

INTERNATIONAL INQUIRIES

PRESS + MEDIA INQUIRIES

GENERAL INQUIRIES