Business View Magazine - Nov 2023

226 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 11 they feel like the convention center is a real home for their community,” he elaborates. “We’ve taken extra steps to make sure that we got to know more about the Islamic culture by hosting them for a question and answer session, in what we’re calling the ‘Let’s Chat’ series as part of our equity platform. We want to make sure that we get to hear and ask them things about their culture, so that we can deliver on the things that they find most important, not necessarily what we think they want.” Community Collaboration and Support Chef Pittman relays the center’s commitment to incubating small businesses like Codetta’s Bake Shop, a female-owned, black minority woman-owned, and Muslim-owned enterprise. Over the past two and a half years, Codetta’s has grown significantly with support from the convention center, evolving from a small operation to supplying up to 4,200 plate-ups. He says, “I took this company on because I really appreciated the product. Not only the