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7 minority business owners graduate from Cedar Valley Black Business & Entrepreneurship Accelerator

December 20, 2021

The Cedar Valley Black Business & Entrepreneurship Accelerator (CVMBEA) graduated its third cohort of business owners last Friday.

For the past year and a half, the CVMBEA program has provided financial aid, networking opportunities, mentorship, and scale strategies for new and existing minority-owned businesses in the Waterloo and Cedar Falls area.

Throughout the 16-week program, the business owners met every Tuesday as a group and go over several different topics including accounting, customer discovery, sales channels, marketing and more.

“There’s always such a variety of businesses,” said ReShonda Young, Manager of the program. “They’re all doing something so different, which is great because they don’t feel like they’re in competition with it with one another. We feel more like they’re collaborating.”

The business owners in this year’s cohort are:

Leticia Roberts (Boujee Body Bakery)
Marcia Jones and Carolyn Sallis (CalCia Luxury Interior Designs, LLC)
Taneia Galloway (The Dollhouse Bundle Collection)
Anthony Thomas (Basketball Business – Men’s Empowerment Organization)
Jadell Boyd (Tu Wayy Catering & Dueceberry Boxes)
Jessica Smith (Digne De Moi Scrubs & Fit Apparel)
ShaunQuez Ketton (Absalom Lounge)

“I think one of the biggest values that our business owners get from the program is that we open them up to the broader community,” said Young. “Because a lot of them are well known within the black community, but to the broader community, they’re not known. And so we really try and make sure that they start to form relationships outside of our community. And the best way to do that is to help them make those introductions.”

Previous coverage

Cedar Valley launches new accelerator program for minority-owned businesses

1 Comment

Shay Miles

Posted December 21, 2021 at 9:09 pm

Congratulations bosses!!!

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7 minority business owners graduate from Cedar Valley Black Business & Entrepreneurship Accelerator | Clay & Milk

A central Iowa ag-tech accelerator has secured more backers and finally has a name. The Greater Des Moines Partnership first announced the accelerator last year, naming four initial investors. On Monday, the Partnership said the program will be called the "Iowa AgriTech Accelerator" and named three new investors. The new investors include Grinnell Mutual, Kent Corp. and Sukup Manufacturing, all Iowa companies. They join investors Deere & Co., Peoples Co., Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Co. and DuPont Pioneer. Each investor has agreed to put up $100,000 for the first year of the accelerator. Startups entering the program will receive $40,000 in seed funding in exchange for 6 percent equity. Tej Dhawan, an angel investor and local startup mentor, is serving as interim director until the AgriTech Accelerator names a permanent leader. Dhawan held a similar role with the GIA before Brian Hemesath was named as managing director. As interim director, Dhawan said his main job includes hiring the accelerator's executive director, establishing a business structure and initial recruiting for the first cohort. The accelerator will place few filters, such as location and product, on the applicant pool, Dhawan said. "When you’re seeking innovation, innovation can come from every corner of the world so why restrict ourselves," he said. One area the the AgriTech Accelerator won't recruit from is biotech. For its first cohort, the AgriTech Accelerator will work out of the GIA's space in Des Moines' East Village, Dhawan said. A future, permanent home is still to be decided. The accelerator's program will host startups from mid-July through mid-October, ending with an event connected to the annual World Food Prize. The GIA, which the AgriTech Accelerator is based on, also ends with presentations at an industry event. The accelerator has also started lining up a mentor pool. The Iowa Corn Growers Association, Iowa Soybean Association and the Iowa Pork Producers Association have agreed to provide mentors, as has Iowa State University. While the AgriTech Accelerator is loosely based off of the GIA, it will differ in its business structure, Dhawan said. The GIA runs through a for-profit model for both operations and its investment fund. The AgriTech Accelerator will have a nonprofit model for its operations and a for-profit setup for its fund. Dhawan said the nonprofit model is being used so the accelerator can better work with other nonprofit partners, such as trade associations. "These are all organizations that are nonprofits and can be amazing stakeholders without ever having to be investors in the accelerator," he said. "It becomes easier to work with trade associations in their nonprofit role when we are also a nonprofit." When it's up and running, the AgriTech Accelerator would be one of a handful of ag-focused startup development programs in Iowa. Others include the Ag Startup Engine out of Iowa State University and the Rural Ventures Alliance from Iowa MicroLoan. Matthew Patane is the managing editor and co-founder of Clay & Milk. Send him an email at mpatane@clayandmilk.com.

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