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.