No Debate: As Race Heats Up, So Does Business, Networking

Now, Brian Benjamin just waits for it. Take that day not long ago at a golf course in Orange, New Jersey for example. The businessmen he was introduced to seemed more interested in birdies than talking business — more interested in making putts than making plans. But when Benjamin, a real-estate developer for Genesis Companies, was introduced as a young man who had raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Barack Obama, heads turned. It is the reaction he’s become used to.

Four years ago, Benjamin, now 35, had simply sought to throw a fundraiser for the slightly-built senator from Illinois. After a host of them — after starting his organization Young Professionals For Change — he raised over $200,000 and was a delegate at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. The Harlem pol Inez Dickens tapped him to lead her finance committee for re-election to the New York City Council. He is a commentator on Fox News and has leveraged his visibility, networking and knowledge to grow business at Genesis, where he is a partner.

“When I think of what’s possible now, it’s broader than it used to be,” Benjamin says.

When President Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney square off in tonight’s presidential debate in prime time, it will mark one of the first occasions for social activity around a major political event. And from now until election day, socializing and networking has broad implications for young professionals around the country in the private and public sector.

Debate gatherings and fundraisers aren’t just fertile ground for business and networking, but are to political junkies what the playoffs are to sports fans, says Diane Lucas, a Harvard-educated criminal defense attorney in New York.

“For those last few games, lots of sports fans would rather watch the games at a sports bar to get excited and geared up,” Lucas says. “Supporters of the president feed off of that energy, too. We’re getting ready to fight and get excited. At the end of the day, this is a pep rally and people are ready to go.”

Lucas — along with Maria Lloyd, Sherea Lloyd, and Rochelle Sinclair — co-founded Eleven Six Twelve

, a t-shirt company focused on invigorating the base which helped elect the president. The quartet, miffed by apathy among their peers who vigorously supported the president in 2008, decided to take action with 100 percent of the proceeds going to Obama for America.

“The same people who were super excited in 2008 — people who drove to Pennsylvania to knock on doors, people who spent hours at call banks … this time around were not so interested,” said Lucas. “Most of these people who were not affected by the economy, for whatever reason were just not as excited.”

Lucas knows that the connections she makes from now until Election Day will help her career as an attorney, but hopes they have a more immediate effect: She’s on the board of the The Anew School, a two-year boarding school in Ghana for vulnerable African American boys in the seventh and eighth grade. The school is still in the fundraising stage, but

Lucas says that connections, favors and introductions made leading up to November 6 will go a long way toward the goal of opening the school. “These people are still going to be around after the election,” she says.

Debate watch parties can bring in tens of thousands of dollars in revenue. JI Group, a nightlife promotional group based in New York will be attended by CNN analyst Roland Martin and former New York Gov. David Paterson, the group says.

“Being involved with Obama events throughout the years, but especially during election years has always been great for business,” says social enterpreneur Elkair Balla, owner of the events company threeKINGS NYC and co-founder of b condoms. “I have started a few ventures and it’s always good for me to meet up with friends, associates and colleagues at these fundraisers to network. Young professionals look to us for upscale social gatherings and political events and we’ve always been natural fit for that arena.”

Benjamin says his experience has shown that there are different audiences for engagement with

the political process. For instance, he’s been able to talk to voters about their concerns and interact with Shaun Donovan, U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development. “Now all of a sudden, not only are you supporting President Obama but your meeting deputies, administrators, regulators, lawyers developers … you’d want to pay to be in that room. The whole chain of your process as a business person can be addressed.”

Meanwhile, Benjamin’s lost count of the amount times he’s met the president. “I think five or six,” he says, warning that the opportunities he’s gotten pale in comparison to one memorable moment.

“For the woman that brought you into this world to get a chance to interact with the president of the United States is the best,” he says of his mother, who arrived in America as an immigrant from Guyana where the opportunities seemed as limitless as they seemed endless in her new country. “And doing all that I’ve done to create that opportunity for her is what I’m most proud of.”