RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) -The inaugural Community Business Academy, a program for aspiring and current business owners in Richmond, is weeks away from launching.
The Community Business Academy is a 12-week course by The Jackson Ward Collective Foundation (JWC). A nonprofit organization that helps aspiring and black-owned business owners access the resources necessary to survive and thrive in the business world.
The academy is designed for aspiring entrepreneurs with strong ideas or concepts and current black business owners who want to strengthen their operations. Those accepted will attend weekly in-person sessions that will provide hands-on training and teach business fundamentals.
Melody Short is Director of Programs and Co-Founder of the JWC Foundation. She explains what the participants can look forward to.
“We’ll cover everything from exploring your business concept and making sure it’s a viable business model to finance as well,” Short said. “We will examine marketing and every component of your business plan.”
CBA will be licensed through Rising Tide Capital, a New Jersey-based nonprofit that has provided business development services for nearly two decades.
With the help of sponsors such as Altria, Capital One and Dominion Energy, academy participants can enroll in the program. Participants may pay fees on a sliding scale, with the cost not exceeding $250. The value of the program is $3,000.
Benjamin Miles, a local barber who works out of a salon at Altria’s headquarters, is excited about the opportunity. He dreams of opening his own unisex hair salon one day, but like any aspiring entrepreneur, he’s unsure of how to get started.
“I literally don’t know how to start the process, so I want to see the first step to the actual last step, from idea to launch and everything in between, but to have someone actually guide me through that process without having to make catastrophic,” Miles said.
The academy is designed for aspiring entrepreneurs with strong ideas or concepts and current black business owners who want to strengthen their operations. Those accepted will attend weekly in-person sessions that will provide hands-on training and teach business fundamentals.
Melody Short is Director of Programs and Co-Founder of the JWC Foundation. She explains what the participants can look forward to.
“We’ll cover everything from exploring your business concept and making sure it’s a viable business model to finance as well,” Short said. “We will examine marketing and every component of your business plan.”
CBA will be licensed through Rising Tide Capital, a New Jersey-based nonprofit that has provided business development services for nearly two decades.
With the help of sponsors such as Altria, Capital One and Dominion Energy, academy participants can enroll in the program using a sliding scale, with a maximum fee of $250. The value of the program is $3,000.
Benjamin Miles, a local barber who works out of a salon at Altria’s headquarters, is excited about the opportunity. He dreams of opening his own unisex barber shop one day, but as an aspiring entrepreneur, he is unsure how to get started.
“I literally don’t know how to start the process, so I want to see the first step to the actual last step from idea to launch and everything in between, but to have someone actually guide me through that process without having to make catastrophic,” Miles said.
According to Fundera by NerdWallet and other studies, eight out of 10 black-owned businesses fail within the first 18 months. Differences in funding and resources are part of the reason.
The average level of seed capital among black entrepreneurs is just $35,205, as opposed to $106,720 for white entrepreneurs, according to “Black and White: Access to Capital Among Minority-Owned Startups,” NerdWallet reports.
That’s just one of the reasons Rasheeda Creighton, executive director of the JWC, says the CBA is critical.
“The disparities around financial contributions are huge, but what we also forget is that social capital and access to information is also a barrier to us being able to start our businesses,” Creighton said.
Like Short, Creighton is deeply passionate about helping others and feels honored to be able to help aspiring and black current business owners.
Miles is just grateful for the support.
“It can change my generation, the people behind me,” Miles said. “There will be so many people who need something like this.”
The academy kicks off on Wednesday, September 7 at the 1717 Innovation Center in Shockoe Bottom at 1717 E Cary St. Participants must attend the third and final virtual information session on Wednesday, August 3.
For information on the CBA’s last information session, visit here.
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