How All Blk Market Inc. Brought Hands-On Ai Learning To Toronto Tech Week

At Future Ready with AI, ABM and Black Founders Network used Toronto Tech Week to help founders move from curiosity to practical action.

During a week filled with panels, networking events, and conversations about the future of technology, All Blk Market Inc. chose to focus on something more direct: giving founders practical tools they could actually use.

On Thursday, May 28, 2026, ABM hosted Future Ready with AI at CIBC Square in downtown Toronto as part of
Toronto Tech Week. The event, held from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., brought together entrepreneurs, small business
owners, founders, community partners, and innovation leaders for a hands-on workshop focused on artificial
intelligence, business growth, and practical adoption.

For ABM Co-founder Guedei Djimi, the purpose of the event was bigger than simply being part of Toronto Tech Week.
It was about making sure Black entrepreneurs and small business owners are not left behind as AI becomes a
bigger part of how businesses operate.

“The rise of AI is undeniable,” he said during an interview with Street Voices. “Anybody that operates a business in
this day and age in 2026 should be able to be AI literate.”

That belief shaped the entire event. Instead of hosting a traditional networking mixer, ABM wanted to create a
space where founders could learn, ask questions, test ideas, and walk away with a clearer understanding of how AI
could fit into their own businesses.

ABM’s community is made up largely of product- and service-based businesses, many of which have worked with
the organization for several years. According to Djimi, many members are already experimenting with AI in some
way, but not everyone has access to the knowledge, guidance, or confidence needed to use the tools effectively.
That is where ABM saw an opportunity.

“It would have been a lot easier for us to just host any kind of Toronto Tech Week event, your typical networking
event,” Djimi explained. “However, we understood that our audience, the founders that we work with, they need
something more tangible, something more hands-on.”

The workshop was created in collaboration with Toronto Tech Week, BDC, Futurpreneur, and Black Founders
Network. The event was also co-hosted with BFN, which has an annual partnership with ABM for 2025 and 2026.
Rather than hosting separate events during the same week, the two organizations joined forces to create
something with a stronger community impact.

For Djimi, that collaboration made sense because both organizations are already serving founders and
entrepreneurs within the same ecosystem. He said ABM and BFN plan to continue working together on future
programming.

“This is not going to be the first or the last event that we host together,” he said.

The workshop was led by facilitators Fatima Abdillahi of Agentflow AI and Claudette Hutchinson of Owning My.
Both facilitators brought experience in AI-focused platforms, digital tools, and business support. Abdillahi’s work
with Agentflow AI is especially aligned with ABM’s focus on helping small businesses integrate AI into their day-to-
day operations. Djimi said ABM has been in conversation with her since last year’s Toronto Tech Week about
creating a pipeline that could help ABM members learn how to build, adopt, and use AI tools to scale their
businesses.

For Claudette Hutchinson, Djimi described her as someone already active in the broader innovation and
entrepreneurship ecosystem. While she is not currently an ABM member, he said her experience and reputation
made her one of the first people who came to mind when ABM and BFN began planning the workshop.
“She is a brilliant mind,” Djimi said. “We wanted to have her on board to give back to the community and speak
about her expertise to our members.”
 

The focus on hands-on learning was intentional. Throughout Toronto Tech Week, there were several events taking
place each day across the city. Many focused on networking, celebration, and ecosystem building. ABM wanted to
do that too, but also wanted to use the moment to raise awareness about a gap it sees in the community: AI
literacy.

According to Djimi, many Black founders have strong ideas, strong businesses, and strong potential, but AI and
innovation are still not being discussed enough in the spaces where they are building.
“We have a lot of founders with great ideas,” he said. “However, AI is not being talked about enough in our
community.”

That is why Future Ready with AI was built as a practical experience. The goal was not just to talk about artificial
intelligence as a trend, but to show entrepreneurs how AI tools can support business efficiency, growth, innovation,
and competitiveness.

For small businesses, that can mean learning how to automate repetitive tasks, improve internal processes,
strengthen customer communication, develop content, organize operations, or build tools that support growth. For
founders still early in their journey, AI literacy can also create confidence: the ability to understand what tools are
available, what problems they can solve, and how to use them responsibly.

ABM’s work sits directly within that space. Founded in early 2020, ABM is an e-commerce platform that showcases
small and medium-sized Black-owned businesses while also connecting entrepreneurs with established
professionals across the city. The organization describes its role as bridging gaps between businesses,
professionals, resources, and community partners.

Over the years, ABM has built relationships with organizations across Toronto’s entrepreneurship ecosystem,
including Black Founders Network, Futurpreneur, Meridian, Centennial College, Nobellum, and Street Voices.
Through those partnerships, ABM continues to create spaces where Black entrepreneurs can access visibility,
resources, mentorship, and opportunities to grow.

Future Ready with AI was another example of that mission in action.

The event also received video remarks from the office of the Minister of AI and Digital Innovation, a moment Djimi
said carried meaning for the community. To him, it showed that intentional community-led programming around AI
can be recognized beyond the room itself.

For ABM, that recognition matters because the event was not designed simply for brand visibility. It was designed
to address a real need.

“There’s a lot of networking events that were focused on getting the community out, connecting with one another
and celebrating Toronto Tech Week,” Djimi said. “However, what ABM and BFN did was take advantage of Toronto
Tech Week to raise awareness of the importance of AI in our ecosystem.”

That difference is what made Future Ready with AI stand out. It was not just a gathering. It was a call for founders
to prepare for the future with the tools that are already shaping the present.

As AI continues to change how businesses operate, ABM’s message is clear: Black entrepreneurs should not only
be included in the conversation, they should be equipped to lead in it.

Future Ready with AI showed what that can look like when community, technology, and practical education come
together with intention.