The FOURTH Annual HBCU EMPOWER CONFERENCE
SECURING OUR PLACE IN THE FUTURE
This national convening brings together entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, ecosystem builders, and students from across the country to explore how business ownership can drive entrepreneurial wealth, generational prosperity, and the advancing legacy of HBCU leadership, innovation, and impact.
For generations, HBCUs have served as engines of ingenuity, resilience, and leadership, producing entrepreneurs, innovators, and institution builders. Today, that legacy enters a new chapter.
Rapid advances in technology, shifting financial landscapes, and the evolution of digital and creator economies are reshaping what ownership and entrepreneurship look like. Artificial intelligence is playing a central role, transforming industries and changing how businesses are built, scaled, and sustained.
At the intersection of tradition and technology, participants will explore how innovation, culture, and leadership shape the future of entrepreneurship, and how today’s founders can create pathways to ownership, prosperity, and opportunity that extend beyond a single generation.
Highlight Events & Activities
Welcome Reception
Panels, Workshops & Mainstage Conversations
Across two days of programming, panels, workshops, and mainstage conversations will help attendees plug into tools, technology, and strategies for an entrepreneurial growth and wealth creation. Founders, investors, and technology leaders will share practical insights on scaling ventures, navigating emerging markets, shifting strategies and designing the businesses for the future.
Regional Reception
The regional reception celebrates the legacy and leadership of HBCUs and the founders who emerge from them. This gathering highlights the achievements of entrepreneurs and ecosystem leaders across the Center’s national network and reinforces the role of HBCUs as engines of innovation and economic mobility.
Entrepreneur Resource Fair + Office Hours
The resource fair connects entrepreneurs with organizations offering funding pathways, technology platforms, consulting services, and ecosystem support. Attendees will also participate in office hours with experts and partners, gaining practical insights to strengthen their ventures.
Pitch Competition Activation
The Pitch Activation will showcase student founders from across all Center programming during the past year, highlighting emerging ventures developed through HBCU entrepreneurship initiatives. Participants will present their ventures in a high-energy competition that celebrates creativity, innovation, and the next generation of founders.
HBCU Empower Awards Dinner
The conference concludes with a celebration recognizing the achievements of founders, partners, and program participants whose work reflects the mission and impact of the Howard University & PNC National Center for Entrepreneurship.
Meet Our Speakers
Cornell McBride Jr.
President | McBride Research Laboratories/ Design Essentials
Donald Cravins Jr.
President & CEO | National Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc. (NMSDC)
Natalie Madeira Cofield
President & CEO | Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO)
Robert L. Greene
President & CEO | National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC)
Michele Byrd Dugar
Instructor / Director - Benedict College Student Innovation Hub | Benedict College
2026 Ecosystem Impact Award
Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon
CEO and Founder | Village Retail, Village Books, The Village Market & Our Village United \| Author, “No One Is Self-Made”
Ronnie L. Brown
Assistant Professor of Engineering Science | University of the District of Columbia
The PROGRAMMING
Workshops and panels designed to provide entrepreneurs with the resources, skills, and knowledge needed to scale and grow their ventures in a rapidly evolving economy. Sessions will explore how founders can leverage emerging technologies—including artificial intelligence—to strengthen strategy, streamline operations, and unlock new market opportunities. Participants will examine how innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship can contribute to sustainable prosperity and long-term business growth.
A convening of university leaders, ecosystem builders, and community partners focused on sharing programmatic best practices and resources that strengthen opportunities for entrepreneurs. Discussions will highlight how collaboration across universities, incubators, investors, and public institutions can expand access to entrepreneurship education, funding pathways, and innovation infrastructure—ensuring that founders have the support systems needed to succeed.
Workshops and training focused on leveraging strategies that fund, finance, and grow businesses as well as the communities they serve. Sessions will explore capital access, responsible innovation, emerging technology markets, and investment strategies that support both economic returns and long-term community impact. Participants will gain insight into how capital and innovation can work together to build ventures that create opportunity and shared prosperity.
PricING
B0OK YOUR ROOM
DATES
June 24-26, 2026
Conference Location
The Westin DC Downtown
999 9th Street NW
Washington, DC 20001, US
About the Howard University & PNC National Center for Entrepreneurship
The Howard University & PNC National Center for Entrepreneurship is a national consortium & resource hub focused on enhancing entrepreneurship education at Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) and empowering entrepreneurs around the country. The National Center for Entrepreneurship enhances the success and growth of businesses through providing programming, capital, curriculum, research, and other resources in collaboration with HBCUs and their surrounding communities.
INTERESTED IN ATTENDING HBCU EMPOWER 2026?
Have a question? Interested in more information? Want to partner with us to impact entrepreneurship? Fill out the form and let’s secure our place in the future.