BSG - Pilot Program

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Background

businesses across the country. The store

for the Austin

children.

offers a performance stage for cultural events and school supplies for local

BSG Pilot Introduction The City of Austin has chosen to work closely with up to two intermediaries that will serve as welcome centers for BIPOC entrepreneurs seeking information about possible resources to start and grow their businesses, space to perform and showcase their products, and a networking venue. This model is in part based on the Flanner House Ujamaa Bookstore in Indianapolis. The Flanner House Bookstore is located on the property of a Community Center in NW Indianapolis.

Rohini Townsend, Manager of Ujamaa Community Bookstore / Flanner House organizing new product

The manager of the bookstore provides one on one mentoring to the small businesses that use the store for pop up retail. The featured entrepreneurs are required to work one day per month to help lower the overhead cost of running the store. In doing so, they have the opportunity for “customer discovery”, asking customers what they like about a product.

They also get to test the market with very little financial risk before moving to a more permanent space.

Featured black authors book display at Ujamaa Community Bookstore / Flanner House

It was formerly a public library that was shuttered and closed. Regionerate worked with their client to leverage CDBG dollars from the city to renovate the space and establish a social enterprise with books by Black authors and about African Diaspora.

Local ethnic fashion designs displayed on the rack at Ujamaa Community Bookstore / Flanner House

The store also features works by local artists and imports products made by Black

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Creating a Front Door Entrepreneurial Ecosystems are difficult to navigate, and small business resources are not always transparent. Imagine if the Austin BSG Pilot created a “front door” for BIPOC businesses where they can access information about existing entrepreneurship support programs, such as Small Business Development Center Training, City’s Procurement Opportunities as well as referrals to Third Party Black Service Providers, such as Financial, Legal, Web Design, Marketing and Branding, Staffing, Event Planning, and Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics.

The Austin venue could very well serve

together the pillars of the entrepreneurial ecosystem under one umbrella.

Those pillars include: (1) entrepreneurs: (2) culture and communications; (3) access to capital and in-kind resources; (4) talent; (5) peer mentors; (6) social capital and relationships; (7) retail space.

Specific activities would be based on those needs and include entrepreneurial training programs, financial literacy, banking readiness, conversion to the formal economy, and support for scaling business.

Austin would plan a series of business plan competitions for both startups and existing neighborhood businesses to help build a

pipeline of entrepreneurs who will then be

as a space for early stage and scaling

able to avail themselves of other support

entrepreneurs to access culturally sustaining

activities and services offered by a set of

coaches and mentors who agree to be on

core partners. Winners of these competitions

site during certain hours. If space allows,

receive a package of financial and business

subject matter experts can offer weekly

support to move their business through

lunch and learn sessions on topics of

obstacles and into growth. For example, a

interest. They might also share “stories from

common request from small businesses is

the field”. CDFIs, Banks, and Social Impact

assistance with lease negotiation. Legal

Investors could offer feedback on business

support for lease negotiation is included in

pitches. Austin BSG’s initiative brings

these packages.

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Services, Stages and Needs Depending on their stage of the organizational lifecycle, businesses need services that are “rightsized” for them. In other words, “one size does not fit all”.

Along with the continuum of care, there are spaces created to serve entrepreneurs in a variety of industries and at numerous stages of growth.

Therefore, in designing offerings for participants, Austin could offer diverse sets of resources that span proof of concepts from stage to growth. In earlier stages, BSG programs could offer introduction to the Business Model Canvas, a tool that is available at no cost from Strategyzer under a creative commons license.

It is a visual framework that allows a business owner to capture their key customer segments, value proposition, key activities, partners, sales channels, revenue streams, and costs on one page.

Access to Capital At the earliest stages, an entrepreneur might be interested in how to qualify for capital and types of financing available.

Capital providers could require financial forecasting and cash flow analysis and a financial bootcamp could be for Stage I companies. Lines of credit for businesses with a Purchase Order but need cash to buy supplies up front can eliminate a major barrier for startups. Stage 2 companies with 2-10 employees and some revenue may need growth capital, including debt, equity, revenue-based financing. Ideally, they can leverage a capital stack that reduces their debt burden and allows them to maintain ownership in their businesses.

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Small Grants In the early stages of its life cycle, a startup business often needs a relatively small amount of money to achieve a milestone or to surmount an obstacle. For example, money may be needed to obtain a prototype or to hire a website designer.

That money is very difficult to come by for many businesses.

Grants between $1,000 and $5,000

If a more mature business is interested in becoming a supplier to the government or major corporations, Austin might consider offering workshops on how to become certified as an 8A and MBE firm. Supplier Diversity Councils and Minority Chambers often provide these services to their members and can recommend multiple pathways to enter acquisition pipelines.

could be made through an application

Access to Talent

process, juried by community organizations

Another area of need for entrepreneurs

(for community-based businesses), CDFIs,

is access to talent. This might include

and other partners. Criteria for the grants

management talent and entry- level

may include importance of the business to

workforce. Linking high school and college

the community or the city, probability of

internship programs to the BSG effort would

business success, willingness to participate in

provide youth an opportunity to consider

business support activities, likelihood of

entrepreneurship as an alternative to

follow-on funding, etc.

traditional employment and offer the entrepreneur the ability to work more “on

Customers and Buyers New businesses need introductions to

the business” vs. “in the business.”

their first, second, third, and primary

Entrepreneurship Fellows

customers. If the entity is a service business,

The Entrepreneurship Fellows Program

they will need to put in place contractual

leverages college graduates to support

documents (another area that could be the

community-based startups. For example, a

topic of an educational event or mentoring

fellow may have skills in development and

session). In our experience, young firms

use of social media. That individual will be

need high touch support in identifying their

deployed on a project basis to startups

ideal customers and moving from marketing

needing that skill. As a result, fellows will gain

to their first sale.

exposure to multiple startups, and startups will receive expertise in different areas on an

Buy Local Austin might offer a “buy local”

as-needed basis.

campaign for BIPOC entrepreneurs. Their

Youth Entrepreneurship

products can be showcased in public

The Youth Entrepreneurship Program

spaces, underutilized storefronts, cultural

may involve going into city schools with a

festivals, etc. The city could also feature

basic after-school curriculum for learning

BIPOC entrepreneurs of the month on their

about entrepreneurship as an alternative to

website to provide more exposure and

job-seeking. It could include workshops and

celebrate successes.

one-on-one sessions.

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This would help increase and measure interest levels, guided exploration of business ideas, basic entrepreneurship practices and principles, outside speakers and pitch opportunities.

Internships Austin might consider a robust internship program for post-high-school students.

Internships are already frequently used by both nonprofits and for-profit partners, as a means to expose young people to the entrepreneurial support environment and for the organizations to benefit from seasonal or peak demand work.

Conclusion In all the stated examples, the entrepreneur’s needs must be front and center, with programs tailored and customized to meet them where they are at their current point in life. Austin can create positive economic impacts for local BIPOC businesses by leveraging Living Cities grant dollars to offer resources that mitigate the most significant barriers to entrepreneurs of color: (1) Understanding How to Navigate the Ecosystem; (2) Access to Customers and Markets; (3) Access to Capital; (4) Access to Talent; and (5) Access to Quality Connected Space.

Austin could play important roles of the convener, connector, resource broker, and ecosystem navigator in this BSG Pilot scenario. Although there is no “cookie cutter approach”, we hope that the Flanner House Community Bookstore and other examples provide a starting point to launch your “learning by doing” BSG journey.

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“

Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own.

— Michelle Obama

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