Chamber Expo Game Night offers business opportunities

Balloons, spin wheels, paper money, Scrabble, raffles and even a Monopoly cake were all on display at the annual Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce Business Expo.

The (Game Night) Monopoly-themed event on Aug. 25 brought out hundreds to enjoy good times, to learn about the Orangeburg County business landscape, to network and fellowship with one another.

For Neicy’s Accessories LLC owner Cynthia Fields, it was the first time she came out to the expo.

Founded three years ago, Neicy’s Accessories is a home-based business with a physical location at Five Rivers Market in Orangeburg.

The business sells a number of accessories, including wallets, tumblers, coasters and hand-crafted tissue boxes and treasure boxes.

“I have a little bit of everything,” Fields said, noting she has sports-themed items. “I also have inspirational items for women and dad stuff.”

Her presence at the expo was all about getting her business out in the community and to know about what Orangeburg has to offer.

“I wanted to get to know a lot of the other businesses in the Orangeburg area and to let them know what I have and what I can offer them to enhance their business as well,” Fields said. 

People can go to www.neicysaccessories.com and the business is also on Facebook and can be searched by her name or her business page “Shop with Cynfields.”

Bimbo Bakeries USA Human Relations Generalist Alfred Richardson is hiring and wanted to let attendees at the expo know Bimbo is the place to work.

The company has maintenance technicians, production operators and sanitation associate positions open.

“It is important for the community to know who we are and for us to meet our business neighbors and let them know that Bimbo is a community friend,” Richardson said. “We have tremendous growth opportunities.”

Richardson said people should work at Bimbo because “it is the world’s largest bakery.”

“Another reason, they are very strong in the community, and another is there are growth opportunities with the company,” Richardson said. “A person is not isolated to Orangeburg, South Carolina. Bimbo is all over the world so, if their desires are to be in other places, there is probably a spot for them.”

Richardson said the pay is very competitive.

“A person can be a breadwinner,” Richardson said. “They can bake the bread, make the bread and take the bread home.”

About 43 vendors were in attendance, including Planet Fitness, CPM, Cornerstone Church, Hibbets Insurance, Jarvis Tax Service, Wannamaker Agency, the Samaritan House, Zeus and the Regional Medical Center.

The expo was open to the public.

There were also vendor promotional giveaways and samples from various local restaurants and caterers.

The Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities was the presenting sponsor of the event, which for the first time ever was held at the DPU operations building. The building is located on Sprinkle Avenue. It was the 21st year of the event.

“This is a wonderful event held in our new DPU building,” Orangeburg Mayor Michael Butler said. “I am so glad it is being utilized by the citizens of Orangeburg.”

“This strengthens the awareness that we have businesses in our city and the services that are available for us,” Butler said.

Keeping with the Monopoly game theme, Mr. Rich Uncle Pennybags, also known as Chamber of Commerce President James McQuilla, said the event is always exciting.

“We have a lot of folks here,” he said. “Last year we had fewer vendors but that was understood because of COVID.”

“We want to be able to show people that we are back,” McQuilla said. “The business community is here. They are excited. They are looking for customers. They are looking for employees.”

“We are always looking for folks with great ideas and hopefully the chamber can help them, the Orangeburg Regional Innovation Center can help them, the Small Business Developer Center can help them to get their business off the ground,” he said.

Chamber Monopoly allowed each vendor to be represented with a spot on the board.

Maps were available for attendees for a chance to win a prize.

Allison Hopkins attended the event out of curiosity and to meet other business members. She works with Direct Auto Insurance. It was the first time she had attended the event.

“It is giving us an opportunity to network and bring our customers to their customers,” she said. “It is definitely a good thing to get out and meet your neighbors.

In addition to DPU being the presenting sponsor, Zeus Industrial Products and First Citizens Bank were gold sponsors and Valet Technologies was a silver sponsor.