SBDC’s Vibrant Trade Show draws over 300

Over 300 community members packed the CNMI Small Business Development Center Network’s Vibrant Trade Show last Thursday at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan.

As a part of the SBDC’s 2024 Friend of Business Summit: Cybertech Edition, the trade show featured 20 vendors, namely Angil Design, AP Group, Bank of Hawaii, CNMI Department of Labor Workforce Investment Agency, CNMI Office of Broadband Policy and Development, Commonwealth Bureau of Military Affairs, Docomo Pacific, First Hawaiian Bank, Island Training Solutions, Marianas Variety, Marianas Visitors Authority, Nonstop Corp., Northern Marianas Technical Institute, Saipan Chamber of Commerce, Saipan Computer Services, Stemify CNMI, SuperTech/White Coconut, TrueBeep, TurnKey Solutions, and Xerox Corp.

The trade show focused on the theme of the summit which was cyber technology and gave community members the opportunity to explore and learn more about the latest tools and resources available in the cyber world, especially as society continues to thrust into the digital age. Along with the learning experiences, the event featured an amazing raffle and entertainment from the Marianas Got Talent singers.

SBDC Network director Nadine Deleon Guerrero said the event was a great success and because they were packed to full capacity, they had to turn some folks away for the morning sessions, but invited the rest of the crowd to join the Vibrant Trade Show that was open to the general public.

She shared that aside from the 20 vendors, there were 150 pre-registered attendees, but based on the registration notes including the ones collected at the door, they can say over around 300 people showed up.

“Looking forward to those numbers at the end of the day to see just how much interest was generated through this event. It took months and months of planning. I cannot tell you how much coordination that required.”

Guerrero extended her thanks to not only the participants, but also the vendors and businesses who participated in the trade show.

“They made the time to make the event today happen, and so for that, we’re very, very thankful. Months and months of planning, and watching the event finally happened and now that it’s almost over. We are so happy with the turnout. I feel like it was a successful event, and I’m looking forward to next year because I feel like it’s going to be even bigger. So yeah, thank you for everyone who came out and supported. We hope it was worth your while.”

When asked about the theme, Guerrero shared, “I feel like we’re kind of moving into the digital age, and as the Small Business Development Center, we feel technology is such a big part of someone’s small business. Cyber security is such a big thing now. I feel like we’re a little bit late into the game when it comes to cyber security, but the important part is we’re addressing it now, and that we have local businesses that can support this type of service. So that’s what today was about. It was letting people know how important cyber security is. We have the businesses here on island that can help you with that, and check the SBDC for any one-on-one counseling that you might need in terms of technology, wanting to start a small business within technology, and we’re here to help whichever way we can.”

One of the presenters of the 2024 Friends of Business Summit: Cybertech Edition was Nathan Benson, CEO of locally based TrueBeep. The startup is an AI marketing team solution for small businesses.

He shared that his team attended the event to not only talk about TrueBeep, but also about AI and the impact it’s having on the business community and he was encouraged with the reception from the audience.

“It was really good. We had a really good mix in the audience. We even had government officials there. We had small businesses there. We even had some larger businesses present. All coming together to talk about technology, AI, and the impact it’s having on our business community. And so, it was a really good discussion.”

Benson said events like these are important. “I think, if anything, we need to be doing more events like this because there’s so many people within our community with different skills and different ideas. And bringing everybody coming together helps to generate ideas and generate opportunities. It also helps us prepare for changes like AI and risks like cybersecurity threats.”

One of the attendees, Grant Iderbei from Tanapag, said the event was a great learning opportunity.

“We’ve got a bunch of different industries here. They’re promoting some really good stuff. And just like SBDC said, we’re moving up in the CNMI. It’s moving into its digital age transformation. I guess everybody on Saipan should get updated with all the new techs. And, you know, trend up to the speed of light.”

He added that to level up, it was necessary to push the community up to date with the high-tech world.

“Compared to the U.S., they are already up to date with their innovations. And we’re just a few steps behind. And I guess if you were to match up to what’s actually going around the world, life would be easier, especially here on the island.”