Emerging
Entrepreneurs
Program
WE REALIZE OUR MISSION THROUGH
Our History
The Presidents’ Council Foundation, Inc. (PCF) was founded in 2000, by The Presidents’ Council LLC, an organization
comprised of chief executive officers of some of Northeast Ohio’s largest African-American owned and operated companies. The PCF is the
nonprofit corporation that funds The Presidents’ Council LLC’s, civic and community initiatives. As a public charity, The PCF’s intent is to receive
income from a wide variety of public and private sources to act as the catalyst for change in our region.
The PCF contributes to the economic growth and development of the region through its two flagship programs - Emerging
Entrepreneurs and PC Scholars and through research focused on urban education, entrepreneurship and economic
development.
2000
2008
2013
Emerging Entrepreneurs
(EE):
PC Scholars Program
(PCSP):
Research:
Began in 2000, the EE program
provides intense high-level classroom
instruction for African-American small
business owners. Classes are
facilitated by members of The
Presidents’ Council and other community partners. Since inception, we
have provided a tailored, focused
curriculum to ensure that solid
African-American small businesses
sustain and grow. Once participants
complete the program, they enter into
the Emerging Entrepreneurs Alumni
Association where they continue to
connect, grow and share with fellow
alumni of the program. We feel that by
helping these businesses they will
continue to grow and contribute to the
economic stability in the region.
Started in 2008, this program works
with 10th, 11th and 12th graders from
Cleveland area high schools, and is
designed to produce the next generation of workers, entrepreneurs and
leaders for our community. Students
have bi - monthly sessions focused on
leadership, academic achievement,
career preparedness and life skills. In
2010 the PC Scholars Program added
a mentoring component, where
students are paired with a select
mentor from The Presidents' Council
Foundation’s network.
In 2013 the PCF began a partnership with
PolicyBridge to become the leading
partners on African-American research
pertaining to economic development,
entrepreneurship, and urban education in
our area. In addition two reports have
been released by the organization; the
2007 study on regionalism that led to the
release of a detailed report, Regionalism:
Growing Together to Expand Opportunity
to All. This report produced over 50
definitive recommendations for how the
discussion on regionalism could move
forward productively and equitably and the
2005 Supplier Diversity Report. This
report was an economic development
project focused on attracting a disproportionate share of the increase in national
corporate supplied diversity spending to
minority businesses based in the Greater
Cleveland Economic region.
Scope and
Methodology
In Summer 2013, we began an assessment to better understand the overall impact the Emerging Entrepreneurs Program has on
our participants’ businesses and our economy.
Our program has impacted over 123 African-American businesses owners in Cuyahoga County. Over 67% of our EE’s are still
running their original business when they entered the EE program.
In Cuyahoga County there are a reported 219 Certified MBE; and 293 Certified EDGE business owners (Ohio Department of
Minority Business, 2014).
In 2013 with money received from The Gund Foundation we embarked on assessment on the impact of our EE program with the
following goal: to evaluate and understand the impact of the Emerging Entrepreneurs program on those who have completed the
program and on the broader region. We sought to answer the following questions:
QUESTION 1.
What are the current
economic trends and success
outcomes?
QUESTION 3.
What is the increase in the number of
visible African-American businesses
participating in the Northeast Ohio
economy and leading change for
others?
QUESTION 2.
What is the average impact in the
number of increased jobs, revenue,
and profit of participating
businesses?
The PCF partnered with Case Western University’s Department of Organization Behavior to assist with survey administration. We
surveyed both EE alumni who were still in business and who had closed their businesses. We conducted five focus groups with EE
alumni. Data was extracted from U.S. Census Bureau, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Minority Business Development Agency, the Small
Business Administration, The Ohio Development Services Agency (ODSA), and Minority Business Development Division (MBDD).
Our study found and agreed with the research, a lack of access to capital, and resources impede the growth of organizations in the
maturity stage within our community. “Greater capital access for minority-owned firms is essential to sustain their growth, reduce
national unemployment levels, and in particular the high rate of unemployment in minority communities (MBDA, 2007).” Through our
program we provide networking opportunities on a regular basis to help overcome this problem. Additionally, we hope to add a Client
Relationship Manager who will facilitate connections between community businesses and our EE business owners to provide growth
to our EE’s businesses.
Emerging Entrepreneurs Program pg.5
Business
The Role of Minority-Owned Businesses
In
2007, there were more than 82,387 minority firms
in Ohio generating over
$14.46 Billion gross receipts.
These firms employed over
101,062 individuals. (MBDA, 2007).
The success or failure of minority-owned
businesses will increasingly drive the success
or failure of the overall U.S. economy
(Bernard & Slaughter 2004).
Minority business enterprises (MBEs) have
been making a substantial impact to the U.S.
economy for over the past decade.
In 2007 MBE’s generated 1 trillion in total
gross receipts and employed 5,816,114
individuals with an annual payroll totaling $
860.5 billion dollars (MBDA, 2007).
Minority owned businesses are the fastest
growing firms outpacing non-minority
businesses between 1997 and 2002 (MBDA,
2007).
The Power of African-American Businesses
The largest minority group, African-American owned firms,
generated $137.5 billion in economic output to the U.S.
economy and created about 910,000 jobs (Census, 2007).
The number of African-American owned businesses with
receipts of $1 million or more increased by 35.4 percent to
14,507 between 2002 and 2007 (Census, 2011).
Black-owned businesses continued to be one of
the fastest growing segments of our economy,
showing rapid growth in both the number of
businesses and total sales during this time period,
said Census Bureau Deputy Director Thomas
Mesenbourg (Census, 2007).
Between 2002 and 2007, African-American owned firms
outpaced the growth of non-minority firms in gross receipts
(53% African-American growth), employment (21%), and
number of firms (60%). (MBDA, 2007).
In Cuyahoga County there are a reported 219 certified MBE;
and 293 certified EDGE business owners (Ohio Department of
Minority Business, 2014).
In Ohio, there are a reported 52,136
African-American recognized firms
generating $4.69 Billion
gross receipts (Census, 2007).
“Do it! You won’t be sorry. It will be one of the best
investments in your business and yourself.”
Tameka L. Taylor, Ph.D
President, Compass Consulting Services
An organizational
development firm
that helps companies meets optimal
performance by
optimizing
employee relationships and fostering
an inclusive
workforce.
I had never taken a business class. I had some gaps in my education in areas regarding running a business. I did things
based on common sense and limited experience, which meant the growth of my business, was slower than necessary. We
were doing things by trial and error rather than from theory or the practice of others.
The combination of the classes and the relationships that I have built as a result of the program has been most beneficial.
We have had several client referrals that have happened from people that I met as being a part of this community. We
have had the opportunity to serve on boards and mentor the youth as well. We are donating at least 10% of our revenue
to various non-profits within the community such as WomenSafe, Inc, The Food Bank, and Baldwin-Wallace University’s
SPROUT program just to name a few.
Emerging Entrepreneurs has been extremely effective and one of the best investments we have made for the business!
Our revenue, network, and business have grown as a result of my involvement in the program. It caused me to step back
and evaluate how we could more effectively run our business. When I started it was just my former business partner and
I. Since then, our revenue has grown, I now employ eight sub-contractors, expanded our reach and have clients in Detroit,
Pittsburg and Indiana with other cities in the works.
Vicky Trotter
“You should always look for programs that strengthen
the skill set you already possess and expand on the skills
you need to know. The Emerging Entrepreneurs program
does just that.”
CEO, Trotter’s Dry Cleaning
We are a family
owned dry cleaners
that have been in
business for 45
years in Cleveland.
Access to capital has always been an issue for us, as well as business development in terms of expanding our brand into
different markets. The lack of working capital meant we lost the ability to invest in the latest technology that would improve
our ability to handle the volume and maintain our high quality standards.
I found that I was working IN my business, not ON my business after I completed the program. I now focus ON my
business. We are still having some issues with access to capital, but I intend on auditing the new access to capital session
that was added to the program schedule for insights to solve our issue.
We are the “movie cleaners!” We have cleaned the costumes for both the Avengers movies filmed in Cleveland and
several smaller budget films shot here. We also do community outreach programming: we have a History Club where we
teach youth history through travel, and we have an entrepreneurship program where we teach youth to start a business
with little to no money.
Ken Louard
Grain Management
I was part-owner of Trust Navigators back when I participated in the program. The business is still open in Ohio; however,
I left to pursue other economic opportunities.
I am now in Florida working as an Investment Consultant for Grain Management. The presenters; the information was
useful at the time. Also, I found the networking to be useful while in the program.