By Megan Sayles, AFRO Enterprise Author, msayles@afro.com
On Nov. 16, telecommunications big Comcast celebrated entrepreneurship and enterprise on the Reginald F. Lewis Museum for Comcast RISE Day. In August, 100 Baltimore small enterprise house owners secured complete grant packages courtesy of Comcast RISE, a program that equips entrepreneurs with enterprise teaching, capital and advertising and expertise assist.
All through the occasion, entrepreneurs networked with each other, discovered about native enterprise sources and heard from profitable enterprise leaders.
Loren Hudson, Comcast’s senior vp and chief variety officer, spoke on how “how necessary small companies are to the US and the communities the place all of us reside.”
“You’re who we flip to to lift up our neighborhood and to showcase what it means to ‘dream huge,’” she mentioned, talking to entrepreneurs in attendance. “You’re who I look to and also you’re who I hope my youngsters look to for fulfillment…if you dream huge, issues actually can occur.”
Comcast RISE was established in 2020 as a response to the hardships COVID-19 introduced to small companies throughout the nation. Through the years, this system has developed to make sure small companies not solely survived the pandemic however can thrive sooner or later.
This yr’s RISE recipients have been awarded a $5,000 financial grant, enterprise session, instructional sources, media scheduling, expertise makeover and a 30-second TV industrial.
After toasting the winners throughout Comcast RISE Day, Hudson instructed them to sift by their reward luggage for a golden ticket. One fortunate entrepreneur, Shelly Eldridge, discovered the ticket and was given a further $5,000, prompting her to burst into tears.
Often known as “Shelly the Confidence Coach,” Eldridge runs By Visions Creations, a consulting firm that focuses on confidence and objectives success teaching for millennial professionals and entrepreneurs.
“I used to be struggling final month. I made $175 in my enterprise. I used to be on the point of take one other job, and I mentioned, ‘God, I don’t wish to take this job. I wish to do what I’ve been referred to as to do,’” mentioned Eldrige.
She mentioned she would use the cash to repay a enterprise mortgage.
“I didn’t understand how I used to be going to try this, and now, I can repay the mortgage and nonetheless do the advertising for my enterprise and placed on an occasion that I wish to maintain.” mentioned Eldrige.
Erica Larger, proprietor of Whollygloss, mentioned she hopes the Comcast RISE grant will convey extra publicity to her enterprise, which gives long-wearing, vegan lip glosses that go with all pores and skin sorts. She’s most enthusiastic about making a industrial with the grant package deal.
“For me to be a magnificence enterprise and to get a free industrial, you may solely think about,” mentioned Larger. “It’s superb. It offers me that additional push I have to know that that is potential.”
Though he couldn’t be there in particular person, Baltimore Metropolis Mayor Brandon M. Scott despatched a video message thanking Comcast for its assist of small companies in Baltimore.
“Small enterprise house owners have a particular place in my coronary heart as a result of you’re the spine of Baltimore’s financial system, and I’m so proud that you just make investments a while into rising your companies,” mentioned Scott. “I do know with the assistance of Comcast, the Mayor’s Workplace of Small, Minority Enterprise Advocacy and Improvement, the Chamber of Commerce-based members and different partnership companies are going to proceed to thrive.”
