The City of Savannah will soon graduate the second cohort from its business accelerator program for small and minority entrepreneurs next month.\u00a0<\/p>\n
LAUNCH Savannah is a 12-week intensive, in-person course built to support up to 15 local entrepreneurs in developing early-stage businesses. It was created in response to a 2020 recommendation by the City\u2019s Racial Equity and Leadership Task Force.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout 10% of our businesses (in Savannah) are owned by minorities, so this program seeks to support small, local minority owned businesses, but it\u2019s not exclusive to all,\u201d\u00a0 said City of Savannah\u2019s Senior Director of Economic Development, MarRonde Lotson. \u201cWe do not have a local economy just built on one sector, so that is something that we want to continue to foster, cultivate and promote, and this is an element of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Using curriculum from the Kauffman Fast Track, chosen business owners are taught pricing research, financial planning, marketing, and the ability to identify access to capital needs.<\/p>\n
Loston said gaining access to capital is an entrepreneur\u2019s number one challenge, and the program teaches participants how to withstand the ebbs and flows of the business landscape.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur economic landscape is ever-changing, so those entrepreneurs need the most relevant information possible for the success and vitality of their business,\u201d Lotson said.<\/p>\n
Businesses that were chosen for this year\u2019s cohort range from a learning center to a landscaping company and a custom embroidery company.<\/p>\n
Zelonia Williams opened Patches Custom Embroidery Works three years ago, and despite not having any formal training in how to operate a business, she thought she had it all together.<\/p>\n
The embroidery business offers customized, inexpensive iron-on patches, buttons and pins for companies and organizations. Girl Scouts, biker clubs and local businesses can create specialized merchandise to share with their members, employees or customers.<\/p>\n
But soon after starting Patches Custom Embroidery Works<\/a>, Williams realized she needed a mentor, and applied to the LAUNCH Savannah program.<\/p>\n She and 13 others were chosen to participate in the business accelerator program, which began in early July and meets every Tuesday.<\/p>\n As a single parent and full-time business owner, Williams was nervous about how the 12-week course would fit into her already busy schedule, but she decided that if she really wanted to see her embroidery business thrive, she needed to go all in.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I know what I want, it makes things a whole lot better. I literally go into a mode where I\u2019m unstoppable,\u201d Williams said. \u201cIt\u2019s my passion.\u201d<\/p>\n Since beginning the course, she\u2019s been able to develop a better understanding of new markets and ideal customers she can target, such as the Savannah Bananas, the impact having a lawyer on retainer can mean for a business, and recover after the Oglethorpe Mall shooting.<\/p>\n Williams\u2019 storefront is located right in front of where the July 7th shooting took place, she said, and business has yet to recover over a month later.<\/p>\n \u201cNowhere in my business plan did I figure out how to recover from a shooting,\u201d Williams said. \u201cHaving LAUNCH Savannah here with me with their arms wide open after the incident means the world to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Jennifer Gogo, a local entrepreneur from the first cohort of the City\u2019s business accelerator program, said she also felt welcomed to contact LAUNCH Savannah mentors after she completed the program last year.<\/p>\n