Crown Heights business owners are gearing up for the second annual Crown Heights Young Entrepreneurs (CHYE) Chosen Business Conference, an expo that celebrates Lubavitch-owned businesses and supports entrepreneurs in the community.
A shnas hakhel event, this is the biggest and most anticipated community business event of the year with over 60 booths. And, it’s happening on Sunday, January 15th!
Sponsoring this year’s event is David “Duddy” Farkash, founder of RFK Financial in Partnership with MassMutual Metro NY, a widely renowned life insurance agency.
Duddy Farkash said he is sponsoring this event because he wants to repay the kindness that was done for him when he was starting out in the business world.
“When I was a yungerman working in a grocery store, someone came up to me and told me they saw I had the potential for far greater things,” said Farkash. “That man recruited me into a life insurance agency and the rest is history. I am where I am today because someone saw potential in me and gave me an opportunity.”
A long-time supporter of CHYE, Farkash recalls CHYE founder, Yehoshua Werde inviting him to speak to a small group of early supporters over a decade ago in a Crown Heights basement. At the time, he and Werde were drumming up support for a new initiative that aimed to help entrepreneurs in the community on a large scale.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of Yehoshua Werde and the generous support of Farkash and others, that initiative has blossomed into CHYE, which today provides a wealth of resources to entrepreneurs and other working professionals in the community in the form of seminars, workshops, mentoring, networking opportunities, business plans, a workspace, and more.
“Giving back and supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs in the community is something that is very close to my heart,” said Farkash. “I came to this country 26 years ago from Israel with nothing. For the first few years I was in America, I took on many jobs, including sales and teaching, because I needed to support my growing family.”
After a few years of working as a life insurance agent and building a solid reputation for himself, Farkash went on to start his own insurance agency, which today services over 3,000 clients!
“I recruit many young agents from the community,” he said. “We take them under our wing and teach them the ropes.”
Farkash believes that everyone in the community should support local entrepreneurs. “[Supporting entrepreneurs] is investing in the future well-being of Crown Heights and helping the next generation succeed and thrive,” he said. “I am so encouraged and inspired by all the work CHYE is doing. CHYE is giving our young people the tools they need to become successful – handing them a fishing rod rather than just giving them a fish – and it’s creating a movement where people are becoming successful by helping make others successful.”
All of the business “machers,” leaders, innovators, power players, movers, and shakers in the community, including Duddy Farkash, will be convening at 507 East New York Ave, Beth Rivkah Rose Hall on Sunday, January 15th from 3 pm to 6 pm for the Chosen Business Conference. The registration fee is $10.
You do not want to miss out on this tremendous opportunity!
Register now: https://www.thechosenexpo.com/
May he blessed with tremendous health and with Revealed good in all areas of life.
Lchaim.