During our last leadership Friday, we had a panel about social entrepreneurship in the city of Detroit with speakers representing several organizations.
One was Detroit Soup, a monthly dinner that takes place city wide, and also in several neighborhoods to fund creative projects in the city.
Another was Rebel Nell, an organization that works with homeless shelters to provide jobs for disadvantaged women making jewelry from unique local materials.
Greg Szczesny spoke with us about his non-profit Wheels for Workers, which incubates volunteer mechanics and Detroit youth to teach valuable mechanic and auto body repair skills, while supporting personal growth and professional development.
Over the course of the fellowship, I keep encountering and hearing from people who have started several successful local businesses and non-profits. After hearing all these examples and more, my natural reaction is to think what am I going to create or lead. This “what” is always followed by a “how”, and so I decided focus this blog on the Detroit Build Institute, an organization with several programs dedicated to helping entrepreneurs in Michigan get started.
The institute has several programs, but I want to highlight two of them.
BUILD BASICS:
A 8-week business and project planning class is designed for aspiring and established entrepreneurs. Classes are taught by local experts and cover all the basics of starting a business – from licensing to financial literacy, market research to cash flow and more. You’ll leave the class with a completed business plan, a cohort of fellow entrepreneurs in Detroit, and the knowledge and confidence to take your idea to the next level.
Topics Include: Money Management & Life Skills, Legal Structures, Licensing & Personal Budget, Personal Credit, Start-up Costs & Overhead, Sales Unit & Break Even Point, Sales and Profit Goals & Cash Flow,Target Markets, Market Research & Mission, Research, Competition, Pricing & Goals, Financing Sources & Loan Process
Even with two degrees in business related fields, this seems like a great opportunity because you can enter the program with your idea, and have real time feedback to develop it. Also many of these skills you won’t found taught in a class room from the perspective of a start-up, or small organization.
BUILD SOCIAL:
This program trains, develops, and coaches social entrepreneurs in Detroit’s small business community. By empowering local entrepreneurs to affect real change in their communities, Build Social helps bolster the growing social entrepreneurship movement in Detroit. The class follows a 9-week timeline and offers a curriculum with a strong focus on double and triple bottom line business practices.
Social entrepreneurship is always difficult because you are balancing the financial and social returns, and there are a million ways to increase and evaluate social return. This is a good opportunity to learn from people are have experience with their own ventures, and learn about the best way to structure your organization.
Don’t just take my word for it, read about some of the alumni of the Build Institute and their success stories.