Businesses, Government Contractors Link at Downtown Event

ATLANTA, GA -- More than 700 small businesses and 56 government agencies converged on the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta on Tuesday to hear how to help each other.

The event, "OPEN for Government Contracting: Success Series," was sponsored by American Express OPEN, the small business division of American Express.

Atlanta is a prime market for small business owners, Lourdes Martin-Rosa, an American Express OPEN adviser and president/CEO of Government Business Solutions, a project management firm.

"The program was born in 2009 and this is our fifth time in Atlanta," Martin-Rosa said. "What American Express OPEN does is we collaborate to come up with solutions that are mainstreet ideas."

She said that of the hundreds of connections the one-day event will facilitate, only about 10 percent will follow up. "We have a lot of entrepreneurship here in Atlanta."

The free event began about 9 a.m. and ran until 5 p.m.

"American Express OPEN realized that if we could help small business owners make those connections, then a program like this could allow them to grow in the Atlanta market."

Images via Craig Johnson / Patch