JulaMuso.com - Minority Women Platform

A study conducted by the Minority Business Development Agency showed the following:

• Minority-owned businesses are less likely to get loans than non-minority owners. 
• The value of loans for minority-owned businesses is usually less than non-minority loans. And the MBDA report says interest rates are often higher for minority business loans.
• Providing adequate access to capital would help the minority business community reach the goal of economic parity.

My solution is to create an all-inclusive cloud-based platform for minority women-owned businesses to partner with global corporations for procurement opportunities, funders for access to capital, and each other for networking, mentorship and joint-venture opportunities. By 2050 minority population in the U.S. will be the majority. In other words, new businesses, new jobs and new products will be strongly influenced by, if not created by, the minority community. JulaMuso.com aims to be a facilitator of this transformation.

JulaMuso.com is solving the problem of Good Jobs & Inclusive Entrepreneruship. Specifically, we are solving the need for more inclusive opportunities for Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs). We chose to specifically focus on minority women because of the disproportional disadvantages they face, and because gender parity is very important to us. Our solution uniquely fits the global call to create Good Jobs and foster Inclusive Entrepreneurship for traditionally underrepresented groups.

In the United States - and globally - minority women-owned businesses face numerous challenges in starting, operating and growing. Lack of equal access to capital, network, mentors, and market growth opportunities are all issues minority women entrepreneurs grapple with daily. However, in spite of these challenges, their current impact cannot be ignored. According to the National Association of Women Business Owners, 5.4 million firms are majority-owned by women of color in the U.S. These firms employ 2.1 million people and generate $361 billion in revenues annually.

Imagine what providing a platform that levels the playing field and broadens the economic landscape would do for these vibrant entrepreneurs. It is bound to have a cataclysmic effect on jobs and economic development here in the United States, and  globally. 

JulaMuso.com is a cloud-based platform that provides a space for minority women-owned business enterprises to create a business profile that showcases their business and goods and services they provide. The platform allows corporations looking to specifically do business with minority women-owned businesses to find and procure goods and services from them on the platform.

Additionally, the platform provides opportunities for investors to connect with minority-owned businesses looking to expand strategically. JulaMuso.com also facilitate networking and teaming up opportunity for women minority entrepreneurs.

JulaMuso.com will use cloud technology, matching algorithms and machine learning to connect minority businesses, corporations, and investors looking to connect based on mutual  interests and needs.

We are deliberate about serving specifically minority women entrepreneurs. We hope to level the playing field for this group due to what we consider as the "double challenge" they have to contend with - being minorities and being women. 

In our quest to understand the challenges facing this group, we have surveyed women minority entrepreneurs across urban cities in the United States - New York City, Newark, Philadelphia, etc. - and the reality for all of them is eerily similar. Lack of financial capital, social capital, and market growth opportunities are major inhibitors to achieving their goals.

Our solution is fully aligned with the Challenge of Good Jobs and Inclusive Entrepreneurship as we are endeavoring  to solve the very problem the challenge is aiming to address. In direct alignment with the challenge, our solution seeks to expand the economic pie for people from traditionally underrepresented walks of life.

JulaMuso.com is unique in the sense that it combines disjointed solutions that are currently out there to support minority women-owned business enterprises unto a seamless, cloud-based platform. Most importantly, the platform removes the often expensive and cumbersome in-person tasks of hosting workshops, match-making sessions with corporate buyers, and in-person educational capacity building sessions. 

These in-person sessions tend to take time away from business owners and are very static and finite in their reach. I know from first hand experience as I landed my first job out of grad school at New York University in 2013 as a Program Manager with the New York City Department of Small Business Services coordinating and facilitating these very in-person sessions. I supported 500+ minority and women-owned business enterprises in connecting with corporate buyers, their fellow entrepreneurs and the broader supplier diversity ecosystem. 

The bottlenecks, limitations and feedback I gathered from program participants sparked the idea of JulaMuso.com. With a cloud-based platform, the entire support ecosystem is streamlined and much more efficient - for both entrepreneurs and stakeholders. 

As JulaMuso.com does not currently have a direct competitors - because we are redefining the ecosystem in a novel and unique way - some notable organizations that are offering various forms of support (though disparately) to minority and women-owned business enterprises are as follow:

• SBA
• Minority Business Development Agency
• Chambers of Commerce
• Local Governments (i.e. NYC Department of Small Business Services)
• Supplier Diversity Councils
• National Association of Women Business Owners, etc.

The cloud-based technologies that will power JulaMuso.com is not unique to us. Matching Algorithm and Machine Learning are widespread existing technologies that are powering many cloud-based platforms around the world. We specifically are looking to leverage technologies that will best help match platform participants with corporations for procurement opportunities; investors with capital seekers; and mentors to mentees for networking and joint venture teaming opportunities to bid on bigger contracts.

Matching algorithms and machine learning are powering world-renowned sites; namely Amazon, Facebook, Netflix, etc. The same concept of matching people to people and people to products based on mutually selected interests and buying habits will be applied to connect our various stakeholders. We will also deploy Big Data to understand corporation buying habits and preferences to recommend capacity-building courses to our platform participants to increase their chances of securing contracts. 

I expect JulaMuso.com to have an impact on the problem facing minority women entrepreneurs on two fronts. (1) The solutions the site is offering is grounded in real-life experiences working with entrepreneurs and understanding their pain points (2) we are leveraging technology and network effect to break down existing silos and bottlenecks to serve a broader segment of the market. 

Our logical framework in the short-term purports that JulaMuso.com will bridge the access to network, markets and resources gap for this marginalized group. 

Over the long-haul, our theory of change will facilitate inclusive and shared prosperity by leveling the playing field  - starting with economic upward mobility and agency for minority women entrepreneurs, and beyond. 

As we are piloting and developing the platform, we are currently not serving any customers. In our first year of operation, we expect to be serving no less than 100,000 minority women entrepreneurs. With over 5.4M minority women entrepreneurs in the U.S., we envision serving no less than 500,000 in year five. 

As platforms take off faster and differently than traditional businesses - due to the power of network effect - we may be conservatively projecting our market reach. With the current market gap and the power of first-mover advantage, we can confidently project that JulaMuso.com will serve 500,000 minority women entrepreneurs at our five year mark.

Our goal for year one is to build a streamlined ecosystem of support for minority women entrepreneurs in the United States. In laying the foundation of the ecosystem, we will focus on tangible outcomes for minority entrepreneurs. We understand that value creation is synonymous with longevity. As such, if minority businesses do not see a tangible difference in their network and growth prospects, JulaMuso.com runs the risk of losing steam. Fully aware of this, our year one goal is to ensure that we are impact focused, lining up all of the mechanics on harnessing before and after data to show clear value add to all platform participants. 

• Access to capital
  • Capital constraint to finance the development of the platform, and to build a small sales team to get the platform on a growth trajectory

• Technical knowledge

  
  

  • Lack of a technology background has been a major hurdle in building the platform from scratch as is usually the case with most tech start-up of this nature, hence our current pace.

• Access to capital
  • We intend to utilize the grant prize(s) from this challenge, if selected, to speed up our development process and to bring on board a part-time sales associate to help ramp up partnership development to bring on corporate partners and investors, and to robustly attract minority entrepreneurs to sign up.
• Technical Knowledge
  • As it's now easier to hire remote tech teams for product development and support, we intend to follow along this line to make up for the lack of current technical background on our team.

Sekou M. Sheriff - Co-Founder & CEO (Part-Time)

Masa Kamara - Co- Founder & COO (Full-Time)

Between my Co-Founder Masa Kamara and I, we have approximately 10 years of overall economic development experience working in urban communities. I started my career as a Consumer Banker working with small businesses selling financial products and services and as a Program Coordinator working with economic development nonprofits in Newark, New Jersey. I subsequently enrolled at New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and obtained a Master of Public Administration degree in Public and Nonprofit Management in 2013. 

After grad school, I went to work for the NYC Department of Small Business Services where I directly supported and facilitated capacity-building workshops, procurement fairs and in-person corporate match-making events for over 500 Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs). This experience gave me a firm grounding in the challenges minority entrepreneurs face and the pain points that keep them up at night. 

My co-founder, Masa Kamara, also has a background in Consumer Banking and Financial Services. Additionally, she has worked in Quality Assurance and Inventory Management in the Procurement Field. Masa holds a bachelor's in Business Administration from Metropolitan University in Minneapolis, Minnesota with a focus on Accounting and Economics, and is currently completing her MBA at Caldwell University in Caldwell, New Jersey.

JulaMuso.com currently does not have any partnerships but intends to work with various local government economic development departments, supplier diversity organizations, and equity-focused institutional partners to drive interest, source partners, position the platform strategically.

Our business model ("what" and "who") is focused on providing access to network, capital and market growth opportunity via a shared platform for minority women entrepreneurs. Our key resources are the platform we provide for entrepreneurs to list their firms and the partnerships we develop with corporate buyers and investors to leverage the platform - thus creating a resourced ecosystem. Our model is direct and simple. We provide minority entrepreneurs with access they would either not typically have or would find extremely difficult acquire.

Our "how" is providing a space for each entrepreneurs to create a business profile (similar to LinkedIn) and for corporations and investors to create their profiles. We facilitate a seamless merger of both parties based on shared profile, procurement interests, capital needs, and mentorship opportunities. 

The "why" behind our business model is glaring - as evidenced by the structural inequality that has been brewing and now surfacing in the wake of the tragic death of George Floyd, and so many others. Historically, certain groups have been marginalized and have not had access to social and financial network and resources. This is especially true for minority entrepreneurs in general. JulaMuso.com exists for the sole purpose of removing barriers for minority women entrepreneurs and leveling the playing field for them grow, thrive and succeed. 

JulaMuso.com intends to raise funding through a combination of donations, grants and social enterprise-focused equity to get the platform off the ground and running. Once we are up and running in a substantive manner, we intend to be operationally and financial sustainable over the short to medium term, without the need for sustained donations and grants.  

Revenue Model: JulaMuso.com will charge a "minimum platform fee" to all platform participants - with tiered caveats. 

• Corporations - For corporations looking to find minority women businesses to procure goods and services to diversify their supply chain spend, we will offer the platform as a software-as-a-service (SaaS), charging monthly, quarterly or annually. This group has a clear "supplier diversity goal" to meet and offering a seamless process to do this is a tangible enough value to "justify" a fee.

• Entrepreneurs - For entrepreneurs looking to sell their goods and services on the platform, we will offer them a "freemium model", allowing them to list initially for free, until their "first transaction" from either a corporation purchasing goods or services from them or a funder expressing interest and subsequently "taking steps to further the conversation". Once "value has been established", we will charge a minimum platform fee as well.

• Investors - The same model for entrepreneurs would apply for investors. We will always strive to prove value first, before charging a "justified" fee.

I am applying to Solve to secure funding to launch at scale and grow JulaMuso.com. Equally importantly, we are applying to Solve for the network opportunity and expertise.

We intend to partner with government agencies serving minority businesses, since there is a natural fit and shared interest. Additionally, we will partner with local and global chambers of commerce and supplier diversity organizations and conferences to drive awareness and to secure membership for our platform. More broadly and strategically, we will partner with research and educational institution and policy makers to share data and insights gained from our platform participants, in an effort to shape public policy for minority and women entrepreneurs. 

• Solve Members - to leverage technical knowledge, business knowledge, financial capital and overall mentorship and support.

• MIT Faculty/Initiatives to help shape the academic landscape and research surrounding best practices on how to serve and create an enabling environment for inclusive entrepreneurship.

• Small Business Administration - to serve as an implementing/complementary partner.

• Department of Commerce' Minority Business Development Agency - to serve as an implementing/complementary partner.

•  The Kauffman Foundation - as a preeminent entrepreneurship support and granting organization, a strategic partnership would be a win-win. 

• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - as a social enterprise and based off the fact that our platform in the long-run will be a global platform, we can leverage the reach and funding capability of the Gates Foundation to achieve this aim.

• National Supplier Diversity Council - to attract supplier diversity professionals and endorsement of our platform as a go-to resource for quality and capable women minority suppliers. 

As immigrants make up a sizable percentage of entrepreneurs in the U.S., this prize will help our team provide ready-made market access to refugees looking to start their own business or those who are already entrepreneurs in the form of a one-stop shop to network, connect with funders, and sell their goods and services.

As our platform is designed to specifically support minority women entrepreneurs, we couldn't be more aligned with any of the prizes as we are with this prize. The Innovation for Women Prize will help us support and create equitable market conditions for minority women entrepreneurs in the U.S., and globally.

As JulaMuso.com seeks to utilize machine learning and data-driven technologies to aggregate and support minority entrepreneurs' interests and capabilities, and to match them up with corporations, investors and other stakeholders who are looking to connect and do business with them, we would certainly be furthering the mandate and intent of the AI for Humanity Prize.