This Week in Jacksonville: Business Edition

Exploring Dapper D's new concept in downtown Jacksonville

Entrepreneur Darien “Jack” Jackson returns to This Week in Jacksonville: Business Edition to open his newest downtown venture in the Elbow: Dapper Cheesesteaks downstairs paired with a cigar lounge experience upstairs in the former 11 Ocean space.Jackson walks host Kent Justice through a year of delays—from a slow permitting process and repeated plan revisions to contractor turnover that even led to litigation—before finally landing with a new construction team and clearing inspections ahead of a Friday grand opening.He also explains why this project was bigger than his previous Dapper D’s locations: he’s effectively launching two businesses at once inside a 1909 building with major structural challenges. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Jacksonville city leaders push for practical money skills in schools

Florida now requires a stand-alone personal financial literacy course for high school graduation - but guests on This Week in Jacksonville: Business Edition say the real question is whether it changes behavior. Host Kent Justice talks with Dr. Ronetta Wards of the Jacksonville Public Education Fund (JPEF) and Howard Dale of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville about what “financial literacy” should actually mean for 17- and 18-year-olds: credit, debt, taxes, budgeting, savings, investing, and even emerging currency like crypto. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Former Jags linebacker helps athletes translate sports skills into business moves

Kent Justice talks with former Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Akin Ayodele, now Gallagher’s market leader for North Texas, about the Gallagher Partnership Internship Program with the Jaguars—designed to help pro athletes translate what they’ve built in sports (resilience, preparation, competition, leadership) into post-playing careers, especially in consultative sales and risk management. Ayodele explains how the program works (typically in the offseason), what interns experience day-to-day inside Gallagher, and why he believes employers should value an athlete’s mindset even if the résumé doesn’t look “traditional.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Riverfront project key in $2.5B downtown developments

In this episode, Colin Tarbert, the new CEO of Jacksonville’s Downtown Investment Authority (DIA), outlines the agency’s dual role as both a community redevelopment agency and the city’s economic development arm for downtown, using tax increment financing to drive growth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

What’s there to know about B2B tech companies, AI advancements

Clayton Pritchard, a Jacksonville-based product marketer with experience at Meta, LinkedIn and Twitter, joins This Week in Jacksonville: Business Edition [https://www.news4jax.com/topic/Business_Edition/] to explain his acquisition of a B2B product marketing agency (Olivine) and why he’s choosing to run it remote-first from Jacksonville Beach. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]