9:12 a.m., April 15, 2010----The 4th annual Darden Restaurants Foundation Entrepreneurship Summit was held on Saturday and Sunday, April 10-11, at the Marriott Courtyard Newark-University of Delaware.

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The event is hosted each year by the University of Delaware's Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management, and attracts underrepresented hospitality and business management students from colleges and universities in the Mid-Atlantic region.

The summit is sponsored by the Darden Restaurants Foundation, with support from McDonalds Corporation, Chick-fil-A Restaurants and the Consortium of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The focus of the two-day conference was on entrepreneurship, small business planning and franchising.

The Darden Summit was co-chaired by Lozelle J. DeLuz and Francis A. Kwansa.

DeLuz is president and CEO of DeLuz Management Consulting, Inc., and the former owner, with her late husband Anthony, of Wilmington-area McDonald's franchises. Her civic, social, educational and business activities in Delaware and nationally have earned her recognition from the neighborhoods of Wilmington to the White House. She has served on a host of boards and commissions, including the University of Delaware's Board of Trustees. She continues to serve as president of local and national organizations.

Kwansa is associate chair and director of graduate studies in the Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management.

The following schools attended this year's conference: Cheyney University, Delaware State University, Howard University, Lincoln University, Morgan State University, North Carolina Central University, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, University of Delaware, University of the District of Columbia, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Virginia State University and high school students from the Philadelphia Academies, Inc.

As part of the conference, a business plan competition was held. The competition awards scholarship funds to students from the top three schools, in the amounts of $2,500, $1,500 and $1,000 respectively. This year's first place winner was the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, followed by Delaware State University and University of the District of Columbia.

The lunch keynote speaker this year was Delaware State Treasurer Velda Jones-Potter. Jones-Potter began with a brief history of her professional career, noting that she was the first African-American woman to graduate from the University of Delaware with a degree in engineering. Shortly after graduation, however, she realized engineering was not for her. She then went on to receive a master's degree in business administration from Indiana University.

She started her own management consulting firm, Jones-Potter and Associates, which focuses on business consulting, leadership development, and coaching. She said, “Nothing was more liberating and boundless than when I stepped out of the corporate world and began entrepreneurial work”. After explaining the change and the transition her career took, she offered words of wisdom to the students in the audience with their own personal entrepreneurial goals, “I applaud your decision to pursue entrepreneurial careers and encourage you to follow your dreams. To see you making the investment and nurturing an entrepreneurial drive is exactly what we need to happen.”

She explained that as a country and a local economy, small businesses must serve as economic engines. “We are counting on you to bring businesses to life,” she said.

As Jones-Potter closed the speech, she offered advice to the students, saying, “Continue to invest in education, and yourselves. Take advantage of these opportunities and each other. With networking, the connections you make back to this day can help you.”

At the close of her speech, Jones-Potter was presented with a signed copy of President Barack Obama's book The Audacity of Hope.

Article by Katie Galgano
Photos by Ambre Alexander