Content. Connection. Culture. This is the theme of the 9th Black Tech Week in Cincinnati, Ohio, a city over three hours flight away from Miami. Black Tech Week is a culture-driven experience made possible through a collaboration between the community and businesses.
4000 participants - hundreds of American entrepreneurs, came together to discuss the latest technological innovations, to be inspired and informed. For the first time in the event's history, Surinamese were among the attendees. Not only did they participate in workshops and presentations, but they also built the event application. The Surinamese software company Apptastic collaborated with Black Tech Week (BTW). BTW, founded in 2013, is an event where entrepreneurs in the tech industry, investors, and other professionals come together through sessions and workshops.
"The organization Lightship Foundation approached Apptastic last year to provide technical support for their event app for Black Tech Week (BTW). We successfully accommodated more than 4000 registrations via the website and also delivered an app to position the event experience at a world-class level," says Rajiv Hieralal. "Apptastic looks back on a successful delivery, entirely within the agreed time and standards. With this, we have put ourselves even more in the spotlight for other customers, and the seeds for this have already been planted," says Hieralal.
"Black Tech Week can be considered a great success; there were about 300 sessions, with American actress Issa Rae, known from the film Barbie and Netflix series Insecure, as the keynote speaker. There were also special sessions from Amazon, Google and Kroger where participants could spar directly. The CEOs of Kickstarter and Revolt were also present to inspire the group. The event not only focused on technology but also on the human factor, with particular attention to mental health and well-being."
The Apptastic team has just returned from Cincinnati, but the company is already preparing for Black Tech Week 2024. Hieralal reveals that the company wants to participate in the event with a larger delegation. "Preparations for the next Black Tech Week will start later this year. We are proud that a company from Suriname has been able to contribute to this beautiful project and wishes to open even more doors for other partner companies and Apptastic ambassadors."
