It’s one thing to launch a successful small startup and another to be able to make a presentation about it in front of an auditorium of business-savvy peers and community members, no matter how friendly and supportive they appear. But the second cohort of Beyond Housing’s Biz Smart Start program was so well prepared and polished for its public pitch session that the audience and the judges came away very impressed.
The eight founders in Biz Smart Start’s second cohort spent 12 weeks learning the fundamentals of everything from marketing to financial management. They also received one-on-one mentorship from volunteers like Cortez Springer, a business strategist and owner of Thornton Online Marketing, a digital marketing agency for minority-owned businesses.
“In this community, the push to entrepreneurship is often out of necessity,” explained Springer, who himself grew up in Wellston. “Making money is the priority. Founders may not understand all that entrepreneurship entails—and if your business is in fulfillment mode all the time, there’s no time to think about becoming more organized.”
Beyond Housing established the Biz Smart Start program in 2023 after a thorough exploration of what information would be most beneficial to newly established companies in the 24:1 Community, in keeping with its mission of providing comprehensive community development services. Thus the program includes foundational training as well as skills like public speaking.
That’s where the pitch competition comes in. “At the first training, none of the participants were ready to speak to five people, let alone a room full,” Springer said. “On top of that pressure, it’s already very hard for business owners to ask for money because it’s difficult to state the value of your services.”
Biz Smart Start instilled visible confidence in all the founders. By the time the program wrapped up with a high-energy finale in August, the founders were amply prepared to showcase their products and services to an enthusiastic audience of community members, friends and family, local business leaders, Beyond Housing board members, and more.
Based on the five-minute pitches, the panel of judges chose three winners:
- 1st place: Kimtique, an eyeglass boutique founded by Kimberly Adeyinka
- 2nd place: Caked by Cherish, a baking company founded by TaCherish Johnson
- 3rd place: Pritchard Lawn and Maintenance, founded by Anthony Pritchard
Each winner received a cash award, in addition to the $1,000 all participants received for successfully completing the sessions.
Other members of Cohort 2 included:
- Ring a Bell Services, a home organizing and cleaning company by Myra Bell
- Necco Cleaning Services by LaTaisha Hewitt
- Posh Porches, an exterior decorating company started by Toni Smiley that transforms outdoor spaces into relaxing oases
- Expressions 4 U Yoga founded by holistic wellness coach, yoga teacher, reiki master, and licensed massage therapist Cherelle Marshall
- Star Struck Divaz Dance Co., established in 2019 by director and founder Sheane Tami Kirksey Stokes
In total, these 24:1-based founders have received $16,000 in cash awards plus iPads and Square card readers. They will also receive continuing support through Beyond Housing’s Transformative Services team.
This was the inaugural year for facilitator Arriel Bivens-Biggs, who founded the youth entrepreneurship nonprofit Young Biz Kids in 2015 and has her own LLC as well.
Participating in an in-depth pre-accelerator program like this gives founders an opportunity to “work on their businesses, not in their businesses,” Bivens-Biggs said. “The diversity of the businesses was really cool to see.”
The synergies between the businesses and the needs of the 24:1 Community were evident throughout the pitch competition. Star Struck Divaz, for example, aims to make dance and fitness education more accessible to all in order to combat young people’s limited access to creative activities. Pritchard Lawn & Maintenance addresses homeowners’ diminishing pride in their neighborhoods by offering everything from lawn care to tree trimming to weed control. Posh Porches wants to help residents make better use of their outdoor spaces by enhancing their aesthetic appeal—an especially important goal for the small homes that are typical in many North County neighborhoods.
Adeyinka, whose company offers prescription-ready fashion frames to trendsetting women who appreciate the hard-to-find styles, plans to use some of her $3,000 first-place prize to ramp up her marketing. She will save the rest toward transportation to vendor events, where she makes the bulk of her sales. “I can take the wear and tear off my personal vehicle,” she said.
Her path to full-time work on Kimtique was indirect—as was the case for many of the Biz Smart Start entrepreneurs. Her 20-year banking career prepared her on the financial side, but she said she also learned a ton from Bivens-Biggs’ nonprofit, where she is on the board. “I learned as the kids learned,” she said.
She started working on Kimtique in 2018 as she pondered what to do with her newly free schedule as an empty nester. She had noticed her fellow consumers’ frustration with overpriced eyeglass frames and limited selections. She did research, secured a trademark, and got set up to accept flexible savings accounts and health savings accounts. She also became a licensed optician, which ensured she knew how to fit glasses correctly.
But it wasn’t until February 2024 that a corporate downsizing gave her the push to work on her business full-time. From then on, she said, “everything fell into place.” People sent messages of support—and made purchases. “It opened up my eyes,” she said. “Now I want to inspire people, and that’s why every frame is named with a positive affirmation.”
