When St. Louis nonprofit launched a few years ago, it aimed to set up a business accelerator to uplift entrepreneurs in underinvested areas such as north St. Louis. And beginning in March, its six-month accelerator, , did just that.
The first cohort wrapped up the program late last month. Ten entrepreneurs went through an immersive program and learned from experts about how to access capital, connections and strategies to create living-wage jobs in the region.
On Friday鈥檚 St. Louis on the Air, host Sarah Fenske explored this mentorship program. Joining the discussion was Yoni Blumberg, WePower鈥檚 director of entrepreneurship and strategic initiatives. He said companies in the Elevate/Elevar cohort averaged a 350% increase in sales.
鈥淢ost people came into the cohort as the only entrepreneur 鈥� [a] solopreneur. And one thing we focus on a lot in the program is growing your team, working more on your business than in your business and thinking about what you can outsource or hire for. And so that helps some people grow and scale their businesses,鈥� he explained.
La'Crassia Wilderness, entrepreneur and owner of , also joined the program. She touched on how the business accelerator helped triple her organic skincare line鈥檚 monthly sales between March and August.
鈥淢ostly Butter Love鈥檚 sales were strictly pop-up [driven]. And I had some online traction but not a lot. 鈥� So I had to pivot really hard when the pandemic happened, because I couldn't do any face-to-face sales with my customers, which I thought was going to hurt my business,鈥� she said.
鈥淏ut it actually ended up being great because I had to find new ways to connect with my customers with those systems that I put into place, those marketing strategies that I put into place, and also the connections that I had to kind of create organically and authentically with my customers.鈥�
鈥�鈥� brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by and produced by , , and . The audio engineer is .
