In one Cincinnati neighborhood, a start-up gives local entrepreneurs a chance
When neighborhoods develop, longtime residents are often left out of the boom. MORTAR is designed to provide the information and resources that residents need to start businesses.
In the two years since MORTAR began, 76 people have gone through the program and 25 have gone on to launch businesses.
Courtesy of MORTAR
When Jasmine Ford sold her first cheesecake to a colleague at the Children鈥檚 Hospital of Cincinnati two years ago, she didn鈥檛 think anything of it. Even as word of her pastries spread and orders rolled in over the months, Ford didn鈥檛 imagine she鈥檇 one day own a business.
But in just a few weeks, after two years of working out of her home, Ford, 24, will be opening her own storefront bakery, Jazzy Sweeties, a space she secured with the help of a local business-incubator called MORTAR. To start, she鈥檒l get help from her brother and husband, but hopes to hire an employee soon after the doors open.
鈥淚 was so nervous about how I would get the money,鈥� Ford said. 鈥淚 knew when I got accepted to [MORTAR], this is what I was supposed to do.鈥�
MORTAR is a nine-week business course designed to provide local entrepreneurs like Ford with the information and resources they need to start businesses, from a T-shirt printer to a paleo catering company. While MORTAR is open to all, the majority of students are low-income women.
The idea sprung from founders Derrick Braziel and Allen Woods, who live in Cincinnati鈥檚 historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. Once a working-class neighborhood made up mostly of German immigrants, the area was later populated by African Americans arriving during the Great Migration. Most businesses then were bars and small shops.
Over the years, tech firms moved in and more than $843 million was invested in Over-the-Rhine and the surrounding downtown area, bringing an onslaught of development and new residents. Braziel says the neighborhood still has small businesses, 鈥渂ut they鈥檙e serving a different demographic now.鈥�
Woods and Braziel realized their neighborhood was changing and the new businesses didn鈥檛 represent the community. But it wasn鈥檛 for the community members鈥� lack of entrepreneurial spirit.
鈥淎 lot of the entrepreneurs that we work with operate out of the underground cash economy,鈥� Braziel said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e running businesses out of their living room or they鈥檙e doing business out of their trunk or they鈥檙e hustling in some way, shape, or form. There鈥檚 talent all around, what鈥檚 lacking is the know-how.鈥�
A recently released report from the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City suggested incubators are in a prime position to support the creation of more minority-owned businesses, which currently make up only 18 percent of businesses in the United States. 鈥淚ncubators provide the type of help that all entrepreneurs can use: business training, access to capital, and access to networks for customers, suppliers, etc.,鈥澛爏aid Kim Zeuli, director of research at the Initiative. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e a low-income entrepreneur, incubators can help fill that need.鈥�
In addition to the training, MORTAR gives each student a business coach and connects students to networks that can help them take their ideas to the next level. A local commercial kitchen, for example, lets students with food-related businesses use its facilities, while students from a nearby college volunteer to help participants create a social media presence for their companies.聽Throughout the year, MORTAR also hosts pop-up shops 鈥� opportunities for entrepreneurs to occupy a storefront on a bustling street to test the popularity of their ideas.聽
Funding, though, is still an issue. At the moment, MORTAR isn鈥檛 able to finance the businesses in their program, which is why Braziel hopes that someday MORTAR can access a loan fund or operate its own. It helped two students raise money through crowdfunding platforms, including Jasmine Ford, who raised $10,000 through a Kiva Zip campaign. But Braziel says it鈥檚 not a reliable process: Ford had to raise $3,000 on her last day in order to reach her goal, and some students just don鈥檛 have the networks to raise the money they need.
Still, the demand for MORTAR鈥檚 services is high: In the two years since it began, 76 people have gone through the program and 25 have gone on to launch businesses. Currently, MORTAR has a waiting list of about 100.
Kathy Schwab, a聽member of MORTAR鈥檚 board of聽directors and director of the Cincinnati office of Local Initiatives Support Corp., a neighborhood revitalization group, said that as the city rapidly develops, it鈥檚 important that residents have a role in this new wave of business.
鈥淵ou want neighbors to have a stake in their neighborhood,鈥� Schwab said. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 leave the longtime residents behind 鈥� they have to be part of this new economy.鈥�
Ford鈥檚 looking forward to her store鈥檚 opening, and to swapping a long series of business meetings for more time in her new kitchen. Facebook recently reminded her of the day she started her MORTAR program a year ago. 鈥淚 posted a picture with the caption, 鈥榃atch me make my dream a reality,鈥� 鈥� she said. 鈥淚t happened. I鈥檝e come a long way.鈥�
鈥� Araz聽Hachadourian, a regular contributor, wrote for ,聽a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions.