Dr. Margaret Dureke is a familiar face among Charles County businesses in her role as a Business Retention and Expansion Consultant with the Charles County Economic Development Department. Dr. Dureke actively collaborates with local businesses in the county, identifying and understanding their unique business challenges. She helps link businesses to the programs available through the Department, such as the Business Growth Advantage Program (BGAP), which has been very effective, impactful, and a great resource for the businesses.
Dr. Dureke says, “My favorite part of my job is interviewing the BGAP candidates before they’re chosen or not chosen and learning about their needs and the potential impacts the BGAP program could have on their businesses. The interviews help us formulate, revise, and prepare how to successfully support them through the program.”
Outside her work with the EDD, Dr. Dureke is a renowned international “moxie motivational speaker” (Washington Post) and is known as an “entrepreneurship and how-to-guru” for her expertise and natural ability to empower her clients through her MargaretSpeaks, Inc. platform.
Dr. Dureke has received many notable achievements and awards, including one of the highest civilian honors in America: The Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award. Other notable awards and recognitions include the Maryland Daily Record Top 100 Women 2023, the Major League Soccer (MLS) 2023 All-Star Hometown Hero, and an Honorary Doctorate Degree of Philosophy in Entrepreneurship and Business Administration (2022). She is on the board of Nyumburu Cultural Center, University of Maryland, College Park.
Dr. Dureke is the Founder, President, and Executive Director of an economic empowerment educational nonprofit organization called WETATi Academy located at and in partnership with Nyumburu Cultural Center, University of Maryland, College Park. She is also the Founder and managing principal of MargaretSpeaks. Ambassador Dr. Dureke received her B.A. degree with honors from Howard University and a Juris Doctorate degree in law from American University, Washington College of Law, Washington, DC. She is a serial entrepreneur, publisher, and bestselling author of several personal and business development books.
Dr. Dureke is passionate about her work as the Business Retention and Expansion Consultant. Within this position, she’s able to make a positive impact on lives and businesses in the local community. Her favorite part of Charles County, she says, is “the responsiveness of the leadership where it matters for the businesses and the humanity with which they do it.” One of her favorite businesses is Selby’s Grab and Go restaurant, which officially opened yesterday, December 11. She started working with them in 2018.
Whether Dr. Dureke is supporting business owners through BGAP, linking them to other resources, or sharing her gifts in the community and through her books, she serves as a great motivational inspiration for success.
Dr. Dureke has been happily married to her husband and best friend, John Dureke, for more than 37 years, and together they have three beautiful and talented daughters: Chidinma, Chukwunonso, and Destiny.
