Certifications Awarded
Entrepreneurs Trained
Training Contact Hours
Businesses Founded
410
CERTIFICATIONS
1,211
ENTREPRENEURS TRAINED
28,708.4
TRAINING CONTACT HOURS
244
BUSINESSes FOUNDED (*FOUNDED BETWEEN JULY 2021 AND JAN. 2024)
6
patent/TRADEMARK applications
244
new products released
93.55%
% OF PARTICIPANT RESPONDENTS SURVEYED WHO BELIEVE WE'VE HELPED THEM
968
BUSINESS EXPANDED
This Go Virginia-funded program was created to increase the self-employment rate of minorities and the performance of early stage minority-led firms in Region 4 via a dedicated program which provides a comprehensive suite of entrepreneurship-facilitating resources and supportive services including:
Our program gives participants access to business support in key functional areas: marketing-planning, financial statement development, business plan writing, and social media to enable firms to save money on these services and survive their first 1-5 years.
Our program provides access to two certification programs—(1) The Business Launch Pad certification course created by higher education entrepreneurship center founder, ecosystem builder, and entrepreneurship professor, Dr. Patrice Perry-Rivers; and (2) the MBL Entrepreneur Certificate course powered by Start-Up Virginia.
Participants in our program have access to co-working space by appointment at MBL’s City Point Innovation Center, a 5000-square foot entrepreneurship resource center launched in 2021 resulting from collaborative efforts with the City of Petersburg, corporate, and government partners to serve entrepreneurs in the southern Richmond MSA and Tri-Cities areas.
We host government agency entrepreneurship resource training sessions where representatives from the Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity and the Small Business Administration will train participants on how to access state and federal government resources.
Jordan IP Law will provide entrepreneurs with intellectual property workshops over two years focused on when and how to obtain patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
Edmonds Law, PC & Expert Legal will provide entrepreneurs with counseling on business formation over two years to help under-resourced firms overcome costs associated with incorporation or forming LLC’s and enable them to establish structures that better protect entrepreneur assets.
College student entrepreneurs have the opportunity for small business consultancies and internships through our partner universities through which they are paired with actual small business owners to serve their needs and gain hands-on training working with small businesses on core aspects of operations.
We provide youth entrepreneurship training for minority middle and high school students and our summer "CEO To Be" summer entrepreneurship immersion camp where urban youth get hands on experiential learning in entrepreneurship for one week with match funds and in-kind donations provided by our regional and national partners.
Our program works with regional trade associations and chambers of commerce, including the Metropolitan Business League (MBL), the Central Virginia African American Chamber and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to provide reduced-fee memberships to our program participants.
For a detailed summary of our program, please select the button on the right. You will be able to download a detailed executive summary of the Minority Small Business Launch Center submitted to GO VA.
Fill out the Admissions Form at the link below. Training programs are scheduled to start in the Fall and Spring semesters.
THE MINORITY SMALL BUSINESS LAUNCH CENTER
Powered by Entrepreneurship for All
Mail: P.O. Box 5635 | Williamsburg, VA 23188
Implemented at the
VCU da Vinci Center for Innovation
1229 W Broad Street | Richmond, VA 23220
info@minoritysmallbusinesslaunchcenter.com