Building Markets Will Ring the Nasdaq Closing Bell This Friday
Building Markets Will Ring the Nasdaq Closing Bell This Friday
July 22, 2026 | Jacob Feinberg
This Friday, July 25, Building Markets Executive Director Elizabeth Brown and Maria Carolina Durán, Director for Latin America, will ring the Nasdaq Closing Bell in Times Square alongside members of the Building Markets community.
The ceremony marks the launch of Opportunity Changes Everything, a campaign spotlighting entrepreneurs who have the talent and ambition to build successful businesses but too often lack access to the buyers, financing, and markets they need to grow. Read the full announcement here.
"Talent and ambition are everywhere, but opportunity is not," said Brown. "Opportunity Changes Everything is an invitation to help us open more of those doors."
Watch live at 3:50 PM ET Friday at nasdaq.com/marketsite/bell-ringing-ceremony.
Among the entrepreneurs featured in the campaign is Vanessa Vélez, co-owner of La Gran Pimienta, a Colombian spice company. Building her business in a region shaped by decades of violence and conflict, Vélez joined Building Markets' network and connected with her first international buyer through its matchmaking program.
Building Markets calls this the Opportunity Effect: an entrepreneur receives training. A buyer discovers a supplier. A business grows. Jobs are created. Families gain stability. Communities move forward.
"Every day, I meet entrepreneurs with the vision, resilience, and determination to build extraordinary businesses," said Durán. "They just need the opportunity to show what they can do. We are bringing their stories to a global stage."
Since 2004, Building Markets has reached more than 28,000 small businesses, helping entrepreneurs secure more than $1.5 billion in contracts and financing and create more than 78,000 jobs across Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia.