The Urban League of Greater Atlanta and the Cobb County Government will host a Business Grants Awards ceremony on Thursday, February 15, to present the 10 winners of an application and pitch contest that rated the business practices and effectiveness of competing entrepreneurs. The one-hour ceremony will begin promptly at 2 p.m. at Marvelous Creative Studios, a Black-owned business at 2787 Veterans Memorial Highway Southwest in Austell, Georgia.

Each winner will be awarded an equal share of a $200k Cobb County grant the League established to reward businesses for operational excellence, resilience and to support their continued growth. The grant money is part of a $2,022,284.00 award to the League from the Cobb County Government last spring to launch programs to promote entrepreneurship, workforce development, and housing stability in the county, particularly among historically marginalized populations.

“We are so pleased to work with Cobb County to advance opportunities for small businesses that historically have been unfairly underfunded by traditional lenders,” said Nancy Flake Johnson, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Atlanta. “Additionally, many small enterprises in our region were disproportionately harmed during the COVID pandemic.

“The businesses that won our Cobb County contest have shown themselves to be role models for overcoming odds and operating with high levels of service, business acumen, ethics and creativity.”

The winners represent a variety of enterprises, including a marketing company, restaurants, hair salon and beauty products sales, trucking company, photography, and more. The application and business pitch process allowed entrepreneurs to present their businesses to a select group of local community partners who judged and identified their top selections via virtual voting.

This event is free with a business-casual dress code.

For more information, contact Kimberly Irvin-Lee, Sr. Director - The Center for Entrepreneurship & Economic Development at the Urban League by phone at 404.759.3492 or email at [email protected]. To learn more about the League and its programs, visit www.ulgatl.org