June 10, 2011: Nonprofit Offers Seed Money to New Entrepreneurs
Originally published in the Atlanta Voice, June 10, 2011.
Grants, mentoring available to those with “passion, tenacity”
By Stan Washington
Senior Writer
ATLANTA — When entrepreneurs Magnus Greaves and Lucas Riggins talk about helping young entrepreneurs from disadvantaged communities, their passion is evident. You know they’re serious about the subject because they aren’t just talking about it — they’re doing something about it.
Greaves, 37, and Riggins, 40, are cofounders of the 100 Urban Entrepreneurs, a nonprofit foundation formed to offer funding and mentoring services to entrepreneurs from urban areas across the nation.
Speaking at the recent Black Enterprise business conference, the pair said their goal is to fund 100 startup entrepreneurs within a year and, ultimately, grow that list to 1,000 or more.
“We are interested in working with entrepreneurs at a very early stage,” said Greaves, a self-taught trader and publisher of luxury magazines. “So if you only have an idea and don’t know where to turn, to we are a source.”
The foundation’s mission has been strongly endorsed by Atlanta-based super producer Bryan-Michael Cox, who is on the advisory board. Music/fashion mogul Sean “Puffy” Combs was so impressed with the idea that he donated $100,000 to the foundation, and cofounder Dan Carriere and his wife, Pauli-Ann Carriere, donated $1 million to the foundation to fund the first 100 entrepreneurs.
100 Urban Entrepreneurs helps businesses at the early stages when access to capital is difficult to get, Greaves said. But selected entrepreneurs get more than funding. Each company also gets a customized, eight-week mentorship with business owners and experts.
“We have a staff to help someone launch their business or fix their startup,” Greaves said. “At that point, we focus on money, advice and networking. We have a lot of experts and mentors who can offer advice on a lot of different topics. Plus, there are networking opportunities online and offline.”
Amber C. Saunders, founder of Enrichment Prep, an educational-service company based in Atlanta, said the money helped her expand her customer base nationally, but the mentoring service can be just as vital.
“More important than the $10,000 in funding that Enrichment Prep received is the one-on-one mentoring and the eight-week mentoring program,” Saunders said. “Money alone will do a business owner no service.
“Most of us think that we are smart and know how to run a business, but the reality is, most of us don’t,” she added. “Which is exactly why most businesses close within the first five years of operations.”
100 Urban Entrepreneurs also is assisting Atlanta-area startups iFundie, a crowdsource-funding site for independent artists and promoters; The Weekend Collection, a service providing group pricing for luxury getaways; The Website Shop, a website building company, and Bodyquest Ice Cream, a protein-enriched ice cream.
The cofounders said it hasn’t been hard to find eager entrepreneurs for urban areas who are seeking assistance.
“There are so many young people out there who are ready to crawl, scratch, fight to get started,” Riggins said. “You will see some of them building companies bigger than Apple one day.”
Just as they did in Atlanta, the foundation has set up a pitch booth at various conferences and events around the country. Similar to a photo booth, the pitch booth gives the budding entrepreneur one minute to make a video pitch on why their company or idea should be selected by the foundation.
If candidates can explain their business concept in 60 seconds, that shows they have thought about it very carefully and have done some homework, Riggins said.
In addition to preparation and adequate funding, all entrepreneurs must have one particular trait if they are to succeed, Riggins said: passion.
“They should possess passion, tenacity, aggressiveness — they really have to want it,” Riggins said. “You must have that extra ounce of energy, spirit and ambition in you to keep going that extra mile. If you don’t have that in you, yes, you will crash and burn.”
Greaves agreed: “We all know the road is a difficult one so you must have that passion. Passion is going to get you through the rough days, so you won’t quit.”
Saunders believes the program saved her valuable time, money and heartache.
“I was blessed to be able to learn about growth, pace, marketing, branding, scalability, and thinking nationally from the seasoned business mentors and administration at 100 Urban Entrepreneurs and TheCASHFLOW.com,” Saunders said.
“I would have quit long ago if not for the program and the support that I received,” she said.
100 Urban Entrepreneurs is the nonprofit wing of TheCASHFLOW.com, which Riggins and Greaves also operate.
Riggins said he believes the 100 Urban Entrepreneurs and TheCASHFLOW.com are more than just a foundation and a company.
“I don’t consider us as a company or organization, I consider us as a movement,” he said, “because it’s long overdue for people like us to be in the forefront or just be in the position to execute the ideas in our heads.”
