Sarah Adams, a teacher, began a side business by selling her Jamaican grandmother’s rum cake in 2015 for $5,000 from her husband’s retirement savings. Soon she was handing out samples at street fairs and festivities, constructing her company, Mrs Macone can at a time.
But when the pandemic crippled her growing business in 2020, Ms. Adams, who lives in an apartment complex in north Manhattan, was forced to make a change. While teaching remotely, Ms. Adams used the cash she saved by not commuting to check out recipes for vegan cupcakes, reduced-sugar cookies and low-carb pizzas.
Just a few months ago, Ms. Adams received a newsletter from her landlord, the New York City Housing Authority, which announced a recent competition for entrepreneurs living in public housing. It offered money prizes of as much as $20,000 and free business development classes.
“I believed it was a fake,” Ms. Adams said. She called the housing authorities to ensure that it was true.
Ms. Adams, 47, owns one in every of nine corporations which have won “NYC Boss Up,” theShark tankwhich invites town’s poorest residents to submit business ideas for further development and funding. A complete of 279 applications were submitted, of which 23 were shortlisted. These entrepreneurs presented their business plans and field inquiries to a panel of judges on the Central Library in Brooklyn in March.
The Boss Up program was funded for five years by a $1 million grant from a family foundation Ron Moelisdeveloper who got here up with an idea after reading a 2022 Urban Future Center Report, a non-profit organization. The report highlights the untapped opportunity to extend entrepreneurship amongst residents of public housing.
“It’s really hard to start out a business in New York,” said Mr. Moelis, who, after choosing the winning entrepreneurs, met with the losing finalists to supply feedback and encourage them to try again next 12 months.
Mr. Moelis helped develop the Boss Up program with NYCHA, which provides free business programs for residents and other partners including FJC Foundation who managed the rewards.
Applicants for the Boss Up program must live in one in every of the NYCHA neighborhoods – home to roughly 368,000 residents citywide – or receive federal Section 8 rent subsidies. the rent.
One of the winners, 18-year-old Valeria Ortiz Martinez, who lives in Dyckman Houses in Inwood, noticed a flyer in her lobby announcing the competition. She turned her idea of a customized digital business card – which looks like a bank card and communicates information by touching a cell phone – right into a business, ConnectoTap.
Other winners, like Ms. Adams, were already running small businesses but needed help to take it to the subsequent level. He plans to make use of the $20,000 to launch his line of healthier baked goods and focus more on marketing.
Kat Perez, one other winner, began her own business, Cat D productions, in 2019 with video equipment borrowed from her alma mater, the College of Mount Saint Vincent, which was also her first client. While attending there, Mrs. Perez and her friend recorded two videos of scholars defining slang terms. The videos combined have attracted over six million views.
Since then, Mrs. Perez has made greater than 50 movies and earned $38,300 last 12 months. “I felt like I finally had the inspiration to grow my business, but I did not have the capital or resources,” said Perez, 25, who lives along with her mother within the Bronx.
She said Ms Perez plans to rent an assistant, buy additional video equipment and advertise her company on social media with the money prize.
Daniel Wool, company founder, Proven digital design technologies, in 2022, plans to make use of $20,000 to diversify and sell its company, which pays volunteers to check hardware and software systems for businesses. “It was the nucleus of the business – I believe they really gave me the impetus to maneuver forward,” said Wool, 45, who lives in Grant Houses in Morningside Heights.
For Michael Watson, an artist living in Harlem, winning the competition is a probability to construct a creative business, Studio Fable Jones.
Watson began drawing and painting more through the pandemic and saved enough money to open a gallery in Bushwick, Brooklyn in 2020. There, Mr. Watson, 35, exhibited his watercolors in addition to displaying work by other local artists, musicians and performers, most of whom were people of color.
But he needed to close the gallery a 12 months later after the owner rented the space to another person. Mr Watson plans to reopen in a distinct location. For now, nonetheless, he’s considering all options.
“I have not spent a penny of that cash yet because I need to ensure that the plan I actually have is the perfect,” he said. “I do not intend to make any mistakes.”
