10/16/2023

NGA to Host BIPOC Independent Grocers Virtual Roundtable

Event to take place Oct. 19

Managing Editor

An Oct. 19 NGA event will feature a panel discussion of business leaders who are Black, indigenous and people of color from among the retailer, wholesaler and supplier communities.

The National Grocers Association (NGA) will hold a BIPOC Independent Grocers Virtual Roundtable on Oct. 19 at 2:00-3:00 p.m. The event will feature a panel discussion of business leaders who are Black, indigenous and people of color from among the retailer, wholesaler and supplier communities. The owners, operators and executives will discuss their entrepreneurial successes and the challenges of the grocery business during a webinar that will also provide information about NGA and NGA Foundation programs and events, and offer a chance for attendees to ask the panelists questions.

Moderated by food retail technology expert Joy Nicholas (a 2017 Progressive Grocer Top Woman in Grocery), the panel will consist of KaTina Holiday-Wiseman, owner/founder of Aberdeen, Miss.-based independent Freshly’s Market; Antonio Roberts, produce specialist at Kansas City, Kan.-based Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG); Percy Miller, aka Master P, an entrepreneurial businessman, philanthropist, music mogul, producer and entertainer, as well as the founder of Los Angeles-based P. Miller Enterprises and No Limit Records; and Dami Odetola, VP of Arlington, Va.-based National Cooperative Bank.

“If you’re a BIPOC individual in leadership at your organization, you’ll discover compelling, thought-provoking and actionable insights that we hope will resonate with your lived experience in the grocery industry,” noted NGA. “Learn from these experts who are working every day to drive diversity within an industry that serves so many diverse communities from coast to coast.”

Washington, D.C.-based NGA is the trade association representing the independent sector of the food distribution industry. AWG is the nation’s largest cooperative food wholesaler to independently owned grocers, serving 1,100 member companies and more than 3,400 locations across 31 states. It also operates subsidiary companies that provide real estate and supermarket development services, health and beauty care, general merchandise, pharmaceutical products, specialty foods and natural and organic products. The company is No. 39 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.