Aug. 14—For the first time in several years, Odessa will host the Governor's Small Business Summit August 22.

The first program starts at 8 a.m. and the event runs until 1:30 p.m. at The Venue at Lantana Acres, 6300 N. Golder Ave.

Odessa Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Renee Earls will give a welcome and Director of Economic Development Tom Manskey will give remarks.

Manskey said they are planning for 150 to 200 attendees.

He added that this is a chance to provide assistance to small business and entrepreneurs.

Small businesses provide a great opportunity for growth and expansion in communities.

"It may not be your 500 jobs at a time but it may be your one to two," Manskey said.

There will be several panel discussions. A fireside chat at lunch will include businesspeople John Herriage, Matt Wood and Kirby Wood Scott.

"What we did is we tried to approach people who have had success with small business," Manskey said.

But they can also talk about issues they ran into that they might not have expected.

Manskey said the discussion could help people who are just getting started.

There will also be a finance panel with Paul Lucas, market president of Frost Bank, and Jacqueline Saucedo of Southwest Bank. It will be facilitated by Tyler Patton of the Small Business Development Center.

Manskey added that the Governor's Office is bringing in some departments that offer financial assistance.

"They're going to have their own resource tables and they will be able to explain programs that assist small businesses, whether it be in finance or how ... you qualify for certain things," Manskey said.

He added that the chamber is promoting a Certificate of Origin program where if you make a product in Odessa and you're shipping it overseas you come by the local chamber and get a Certificate of Origin that certifies the product was made here.

The initiative stems from NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement.

For more information and to register, visit https://gov.texas.gov/business/event/governors-small-business-summit-odessa