The ribbon was cut on a new Lafayette venue this afternoon.
Le Beni Venue is opening inside the Northgate Mall. Today, the business and the Greater Southwest Louisiana Black Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting and open house.
Today's event was designed to show off the new space, but co-owner Tamika Babineaux said there was a higher purpose, too.
"I hope they take home that anything is possible whatever they want to do, any endeavor, anything is possible," Babineaux said of those attending. "We're still under construction here, but I wanted them to see what progress we've made so far. I wanted to have them come out and enjoy themselve,s and know this is another venue where they can host an event or meetings, anything like that."
Le Beni Venue also has a high goal.
"We want to bring more people back here in the commuinty," she said. "The mall has gone down a little bit, and I thought having a venue here would bring people back into the mall, to come back and shop. And also, we wanted to have a new venue on this side of town as well."
Le Beni, which means "the blessed," is a testament for Babineaux personally.
"I'm excited that it's almost done. It's here, we're finally making progress, we're finally seeing the light," she said. "It's been a long road, we still have a long way to go, but I know that it's going to be a success. With God, anything is possible."
The business plan for the venue is simple, she said.
"We want to treat people the way we want to be treated," she said. "We want them to feel like they don't need to worry about a thing."
