The U Blog

WRITING HISTORY with COLUMBUS’ URBAN BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER (The U)

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 13:40:04 GMT

Writing History with The U

The U (Urban Business Development Center) was established in 2019 with the goal to become the front door for entrepreneurs of color aspiring to create and build sustainable small businesses. Since then, we have expanded our reach to provide culturally competent curriculum, education and impactful experiences throughout the Columbus region.

Our mission is to close the educational, resource and digital divide for urban and lifestyle entrepreneurs while eliminating the fragmentation of access to all the above.

How did we get here?

People often ask us how we've managed to have such impact within Columbus' entrepreneurial community and we are going to share our secrets right here.

The answer is simple, really.

We are the community and we are the culture! In other words, we are the people, by the people, of the people who are doing EVERYTHING we can to bring light to our mission. That means as a small business, as an entrepreneur, as people of color, as people part of the minority, we are here for you.

How The U built a sustainable ecosystem filled with our people is unique and this story will have immeasurable impact on our community as its shared with the world.

So, let's get to it! Let's get into some details about how we got here.

Our Roots

2019

Ski and Ron, co-founders of The U, met on the Columbus entrepreneurial circuit in 2019 and were driven to help people leverage their ideas, motivations, and natural skills as a way to strengthen our community.

The U began as a shared working space, equipped with branding opportunities and other support, for black and brown businesses to have a space to call home. Our space was built to house, nurture and grow these businesses as a way to build a bigger presence of black and brown business in Columbus.

With the conception of this plan in place, Lolo came to Ski and Ron knowing that she had what it would take to bring their vision to light. Ski and Ron immediately identified Lolo’s expertise and determination which was the beginning of a beautiful partnership. We got clear on the direction we wanted to go in.

Top of 2020

Now it's time to put our vision to the test. MLK weekend, we held our first Entrepreneur’s Boot Camp cohort that consisted of 15 people with businesses from ideation to launch. This first experience was one we will never forget. OUR people trusted us with their process and produced some courageous decisions within their businesses. From this cohort, we saw the value, the impact, and we knew we were on the right track.

Then…there was COVID. As many businesses felt these challenges, we also made necessary decisions that ultimately brought together the dynamic partnership between Ski and Lo.

Expanding on our Vision

With our first cohort completed, we recognized gaps, furthered our vision and sought out opportunities through our network that allowed us to build on this expanded vision. This allowed for the birth of Theory and The Studio.

Theory University is where we specialize in creating culturally competent curricula, programming, and experiences for organizations. When we were asked to be a part of developing programming for the Urban League, we knew the message was clear. People of color are often subject to standard educational practices and training without considering cultural barriers. We want to fill that gap and give organizations the tools they need to be inclusive with their programming.

The Studio began as a digital content service assisting with the broadcast of an event during the pivot of covid businesses needed a way to remain visible, and we did just that. Now, it offers a range of abilities as the urban digital content creation studio and intimate event space.

By this time, we had a good understanding of how Theory and The Studio would function and decided to expand our team as we brought on some critical partners to the process.

While still in our intermediate phases of business, we knew that telling this story would be an essential next step but the how was most important. We needed to return to the original vision.

Evolution from Bootcamp to Accelerator

We decided to launch the Urban Launch School Accelerator, a full 10-week accelerator walking entrepreneurs through taking a business from idea to launch. Each week would focus on a different area of business until eventually reaching launch readiness. Participants had an opportunity to receive micro-grants and business services totaling over $35,000.

The second cohort was a yet another phenomenal group of individuals who were either in business or ideation. Through this process, we graduated ten entrepreneurs and offered them the tools, resources, and a space to combat the barriers in business. We didn't stop there either. We continue to support that growth through what we call the alumni experience.

Urban Business Entrepreneur Center Focused on Providing Education, Resources and Funding Opens In Columbus Ohio

Mon, 10 Feb 2020 20:31:43 GMT

Urban Accelerator X, better known as The U , officially opened its doors January of 2020 in the heart of central Ohio. The Urban Entrepreneur Support Organization and Center was a concept that was created to fill the gap of access for many black entrepreneurs to education, resources and funding that will positively impact their businesses.

The U has many special characteristics, one being that it is operated by local black entrepreneurs who understand the current environment in Columbus and can relate to the everyday issues businesses face. It also provides a platform for undesirable, non-traditionally funded, lifestyle and service based businesses to get access to resources they would normally not qualify for. These include your corner stores, small restaurant, studio, salon and barbershop owners and the list goes on. The U was created to be a safe space for black entrepreneurs to go and ask the questions they are too afraid to ask in other settings. It serves to meet individuals where they are in their business as well as provide the needed support to elevate them into being vital contributors to our black economy.

How will The U accomplish this mission?

Through education, resources and funding.

Education

The U hosts monthly workshops touching on topics that are vital to the success of an urban business. These workshops are meant to be interactive and transformative for the business offering education that can easily be applied. Workshop topics cover finances, legal must haves, marketing strategies, sales techniques and more.

The Junior and Senior Accelerator are the top education sources at The U. The Junior Accelerator consists of 4 weeks of taking someone's business out of the ideation phase and placing it into the launch phase. The Senior Accelerator consists of 8 weeks and deep dives into already launched businesses to create a path to growth and sustainability. Both of these accelerators are intensive, but offer a hand held solution to entrepreneurs.

Lastly, the quarterly Bootcamps are hosted over a weekend and are designed to challenge aspiring and/or current entrepreneurs to develop mindsets and habits of a successful business owner. They will be challenged to build a business over the course of the weekend and participate in a pitch competition.

Resources

The organization has built a community better known as their tribe that offers resources for incoming businesses. The tribe covers all areas from marketing, finances to legal assistance. Offering in-house solutions for business owners who often opt to figure things out on their own was important to The U. Building a nature of collaboration and together-hood over isolation and competition is a crucial foundation to a thriving black ecosystem.
Currently, in the works of creating an online directory for individuals to shop black and also be able to get the business help they need from other black service providers. Again circulating the dollar within the community and building an environment where we can depend on one another.
The U provides working space for small businesses and alumnus who have graduated one of their programs. They also offer mailboxes to have an official business address in an opportunity zone which offers plenty of tax benefits.
Lastly, acting as an Entrepreneur Support Organization through Columbus city, they have fallen in line with the new Small Business Agenda rolled out December of 2019 to provide ground level resources for urban businesses and entrepreneurs that normally are not in touch.

Building a nature of collaboration and together-hood over isolation and competition is a crucial foundation to a thriving black ecosystem.

Funding

The organization is currently working on building a fund that works in two ways:

Provides scholarships to entrepreneurs to attend training and get education needed to elevate their business
Provides seed money for qualifying businesses who graduate from one of the programs

The fund is one of the most attractive things about The U. In February 2020, Urban Accelerator X is kick-starting its efforts to raise money for its VC Fund for Urban Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses. It plans to distribute funding quarterly during its Accelerators starting this April of 2020. The fund will serve as a solution to individuals who do not qualify for personal or business loans as well as those businesses who's profit margins are not large enough to attract funding from a traditional VC fund.

Out of $85 billion in VC Funding last year, less than 3% went to black owned businesses while less than 1% went to WOC [women of color].

"Sometimes we have to fund our own shit" says 1/3 partner Ron Day at The U.

"The opportunity and the need for a solution is there, we just have to follow through on it. It's our responsibility to our community" says LoLo who's the other third of The U.

The U is run by three entrepreneurs by the name of Ron Day [owner of BurgerIM ], George Zarebski also known as Ski [retired Air Force and former founder of Aerēz] and LoLo [owner of The Black Project Creative Agency ]. Forming just months ago, this trio understood quickly that they had stumbled across a project that was bigger than them. With confirmation from the Small Business Agenda rolled out by the City of Columbus, the three knew that their organization was not only something the community needed, but was aligned with the agenda of the mayor of Columbus .

“Today the training for entrepreneurs and small business owners is all but free. But it’s designed for a different kind of culture. We’re curating this curriculum and facilitating it with successful entrepreneurs from our communities. Engagement is our secret sauce.” - Ski the last third of The U.

See what The U has going on by clicking here .