CAAAB offering intense, 1 year business development program help African-American entrepreneurs launch businesses
By Walter Pritchard
Soaring High Media Group
walter@soaringhighmediagroup.com
A lack of knowledge is right up there with limited financial resources as reasons for entrepreneurial dreams perishing before they begin.
In an effort to change the dream-killing dynamics of the St. Louis business landscape, the Center for the Acceleration of African-American Business (CAAAB) has launched a comprehensive program to give start-ups and developing businesses the opportunity to be competitive in the marketplace.
The program, “Catch the CAAAB to Accelerate Your Business’ Success,” is a capacity building model designed to nurture, assess and strengthen critical business functions of select group African-American businesses in the infancy stage. The project is a joint venture with CAAAB’s partner, IMPACT Training and Consulting LLC, who will manage a team of other very capable consultants including, accounting, financial management, human resource management, legal, marketing and sales and social network marketing.
CAAAB announced the initiative January 20 during a breakfast meeting in the downtown St. Louis Bank of America Building, a CAAAB sponsor. The Incarnate Word Foundation, also a CAAAB sponsor, sponsored the breakfast.
Under the program, 20 businesses will be groomed, monitored and mentored for 1-year; development measurement will be analyzed against a battery of benchmarks to determine each business’ readiness to stand on its own merits.
The small business consulting program will assist visionary entrepreneurs to overcome growth-killing obstacles that get in the way of becoming profitable enterprises, said Lora Gulley, President/CEO of IMPACT.
Gulley, an adjunct faculty member at Maryville University and Washington University’s Brown School of Social Work, and who for 15 years has worked improving performance of employees and service-driven organizations, provided an eye-opening assessment of small business start-up success.
Seventy-five percent of small businesses fail due to lack of resources within the first 18 months, her statistics showed. The failure rate of a small business is 25% greater “due to lack of resources” rather “than financial capital.”
“A lot of businesses just don’t know how to get started,” said Gulley, who is also a former basketball academic-all American and Hall of Fame inductee.
IMPACT is an independent consulting firm that provides custom training and organizational development solutions for optimal business performance, quality and results.
Gulley husband, business consultant Corey Gulley, a former Xerox executive and owner The Car Doctor, an automotive service and repair shop in North St. Louis County, said the power of the Catch the CAAAB model is fueled through its mission statement: To provide access to information and resources that will increase the success rate of small, minority businesses...And to strengthen their communities and positively impact the economy.
“How do we support the economic capacity that businesses can provide to our community,” he rhetorically asked. “By utilizing our resources to encourage, empower and expand our entrepreneurs’ footprints.”
Corey Gulley shared how family and community support has played a major factor in the growth and sustainability of his auto repair business for the past eight years.
Eddie Davis, President and Executive Director of CAAAB, said small business owners must engage themselves in an “honest reality check” in order to give their enterprises a chance to make solid beginning steps.
“Research suggests that until businesses can see things objectively, honestly and with full transparency, it is difficult to have intentional and deliberate growth,” Davis said.
Through the Catch the CAAAB program, IMPACT and the other consultants will work closely with the specifically targeted businesses by delivering:
1. One on One Consulting (Mentoring)
2. Strategic Planning
3. Business Development
4. Human Development/Training
5. Financial Planning
6. Risk Management
7. Marketing/Sales
Among CAAAB’s role in program will be to recruit the 20 businesses and raise capital and secure stakeholder support of the operation the program.
The program model is built on CAAAB’s strategic relationships with corporate businesses and on detailed CAAAB research that includes personal interactions with business leaders about challenges they face, focus group meetings and established best practices. Interactive partnerships with various support service organizations and business consultants also went into constructing the Catch the CAAAB model.
CAAAB, founded in 2006, is a non-profit civic organization established to support the growth and development of businesses owned by African Americans. The center’s goal is also to use entrepreneurship as a tool for fostering economic independence among at risk and impoverished populations.
CAAAB provides, among other operatives: one-on-one technical assistance; training and workshops in areas key for business growth and sustainability, partnership with schools and grass root organizations to foster social and economic development; and relationships with local corporations, faith based organizations and financial institutions to develop mentoring programs.
Davis said CAAAB will continue serving the needs of small and disadvantaged businesses through it s regular technical assistance program, where the goal is to prepare these businesses to qualify for the Catch the CAAAB program.
During the introduction of the capacity building program, Lora Gulley said three keys to small business success is attitude, planning and adapting.
“Do you have the mental stamina and toughness to start and run a business, creating a workable blueprint to know when you’re there and responding to a changing landscape” she said.
For more information about Catch the CAAAB program, visit www.CAAAB.org or call 314.533-2411, ext. 109.
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By Walter Pritchard
Soaring High Media Group
walter@soaringhighmediagroup.com
A lack of knowledge is right up there with limited financial resources as reasons for entrepreneurial dreams perishing before they begin.
In an effort to change the dream-killing dynamics of the St. Louis business landscape, the Center for the Acceleration of African-American Business (CAAAB) has launched a comprehensive program to give start-ups and developing businesses the opportunity to be competitive in the marketplace.
The program, “Catch the CAAAB to Accelerate Your Business’ Success,” is a capacity building model designed to nurture, assess and strengthen critical business functions of select group African-American businesses in the infancy stage. The project is a joint venture with CAAAB’s partner, IMPACT Training and Consulting LLC, who will manage a team of other very capable consultants including, accounting, financial management, human resource management, legal, marketing and sales and social network marketing.
CAAAB announced the initiative January 20 during a breakfast meeting in the downtown St. Louis Bank of America Building, a CAAAB sponsor. The Incarnate Word Foundation, also a CAAAB sponsor, sponsored the breakfast.
Under the program, 20 businesses will be groomed, monitored and mentored for 1-year; development measurement will be analyzed against a battery of benchmarks to determine each business’ readiness to stand on its own merits.
The small business consulting program will assist visionary entrepreneurs to overcome growth-killing obstacles that get in the way of becoming profitable enterprises, said Lora Gulley, President/CEO of IMPACT.
Gulley, an adjunct faculty member at Maryville University and Washington University’s Brown School of Social Work, and who for 15 years has worked improving performance of employees and service-driven organizations, provided an eye-opening assessment of small business start-up success.
Seventy-five percent of small businesses fail due to lack of resources within the first 18 months, her statistics showed. The failure rate of a small business is 25% greater “due to lack of resources” rather “than financial capital.”
“A lot of businesses just don’t know how to get started,” said Gulley, who is also a former basketball academic-all American and Hall of Fame inductee.
IMPACT is an independent consulting firm that provides custom training and organizational development solutions for optimal business performance, quality and results.
Gulley husband, business consultant Corey Gulley, a former Xerox executive and owner The Car Doctor, an automotive service and repair shop in North St. Louis County, said the power of the Catch the CAAAB model is fueled through its mission statement: To provide access to information and resources that will increase the success rate of small, minority businesses...And to strengthen their communities and positively impact the economy.
“How do we support the economic capacity that businesses can provide to our community,” he rhetorically asked. “By utilizing our resources to encourage, empower and expand our entrepreneurs’ footprints.”
Corey Gulley shared how family and community support has played a major factor in the growth and sustainability of his auto repair business for the past eight years.
Eddie Davis, President and Executive Director of CAAAB, said small business owners must engage themselves in an “honest reality check” in order to give their enterprises a chance to make solid beginning steps.
“Research suggests that until businesses can see things objectively, honestly and with full transparency, it is difficult to have intentional and deliberate growth,” Davis said.
Through the Catch the CAAAB program, IMPACT and the other consultants will work closely with the specifically targeted businesses by delivering:
1. One on One Consulting (Mentoring)
2. Strategic Planning
3. Business Development
4. Human Development/Training
5. Financial Planning
6. Risk Management
7. Marketing/Sales
Among CAAAB’s role in program will be to recruit the 20 businesses and raise capital and secure stakeholder support of the operation the program.
The program model is built on CAAAB’s strategic relationships with corporate businesses and on detailed CAAAB research that includes personal interactions with business leaders about challenges they face, focus group meetings and established best practices. Interactive partnerships with various support service organizations and business consultants also went into constructing the Catch the CAAAB model.
CAAAB, founded in 2006, is a non-profit civic organization established to support the growth and development of businesses owned by African Americans. The center’s goal is also to use entrepreneurship as a tool for fostering economic independence among at risk and impoverished populations.
CAAAB provides, among other operatives: one-on-one technical assistance; training and workshops in areas key for business growth and sustainability, partnership with schools and grass root organizations to foster social and economic development; and relationships with local corporations, faith based organizations and financial institutions to develop mentoring programs.
Davis said CAAAB will continue serving the needs of small and disadvantaged businesses through it s regular technical assistance program, where the goal is to prepare these businesses to qualify for the Catch the CAAAB program.
During the introduction of the capacity building program, Lora Gulley said three keys to small business success is attitude, planning and adapting.
“Do you have the mental stamina and toughness to start and run a business, creating a workable blueprint to know when you’re there and responding to a changing landscape” she said.
For more information about Catch the CAAAB program, visit www.CAAAB.org or call 314.533-2411, ext. 109.
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Great summary. I will be in contact soon.
ReplyDeleterobert