The Source by CIELO

Exclusion from our expanding digital economy exacerbates widespread and persistent income inequality. The Source by CIELO is committed to solving the problem of digital exclusion for budding entrepreneurs. It’s an online tool that enables people from marginalized communities to access mentorship with vetted advisors, business and career development video classes, career building events, and more. Our goal is to propagate culturally-appropriate knowledge and networks that help users reach their full earnings potential. The Source is browser-based and includes messaging capability in text, video, and image formats in the language preferred by the user. The Source works on any Internet-connected smartphone; no other downloads required. At scale, The Source could positively change lives by fueling a network of 1st-Gen/immigrant/female/BIPOC business owners rooted in a mutually supportive, collaborative environment, with the ripple effect of converting advisees into future advisors, thus paying dividends for future generations.

The Source works to scale diverse leadership networks to help small businesses thrive in the digital economy. We target low-income, women, immigrants, and BIPOC entrepreneurs because the entrepreneurship ecosystem is broken when it comes to these types of entrepreneurs. The existing system is mostly built for those interested in high-tech/high-growth entrepreneurs looking to launch, grow, and sell their businesses. But small businesses are the backbone of local economies and it’s these entrepreneurs who lack access to tools and resources to help them thrive. The Minority Business Development Agency reported that BIPOC-owned businesses receive half the amount in investments compared to white-owned businesses. And even before the pandemic, Hispanic- and Black-owned businesses were more likely to be considered at-risk or distressed than white-owned businesses, a problem that only worsened after COVID-19 (McKinsey & Company). 

Digital literacy has become a core competency for small business owners as over the next ten years, “50% of tasks across all industries are expected to go digital, eliminating as many as 39 million jobs” (“Latino Inclusion in the Digital Economy”, The Aspen Institute, 2021). We want to make sure that as our world becomes increasingly more digital, our target population is not left behind. 

The Source connects entrepreneurs in any community to an experienced business coach and comprehensive training to help even the playing field. The Source is a tool to help CIELO amplify the reach and impact of our core services, which include live small business development workshops, one-on-one coaching, connections to community partners, access to capital, and case management throughout the journey. The Source is housed online through Firsthand software (firsthand.co), an alumni engagement and mentoring platform used by major universities including MIT, Rutgers, and Cornell. Our team conducted exhaustive research, tested several options, and ultimately found that Firsthand was the best fit for our and our clients’ needs. Rather than launch a new platform with all the added costs that go along with it, we are taking software that already exists, repurposing it, and amplifying it to gain access to broader networks. 

There are two integrated components to The Source. Through the mentorship component, entrepreneurs are matched with experienced business coaches by spoken language, region, industry, and other demographics. Measured coaching sessions occur using in-app video meetings. Through the learning component (The Source Classroom), entrepreneurs can access self-driven educational modules covering vital business development topics.

The Source’s target population is low-to-moderate income, women, immigrant, and BIPOC entrepreneurs. The post-pandemic economy has diminished workforce opportunities, especially for our black, brown, women, and immigrant communities. They turn to entrepreneurship as a means of an alternative income source. However, in Southern California, where CIELO is based, and throughout the US, the entrepreneurship ecosystem is broken when it comes to these types of entrepreneurs. The existing system is primarily built for those interested in high-tech/high-growth entrepreneurs looking to launch, grow, and sell their businesses. Our target population are those who are left working three minimum wage jobs just to make ends meet because they are undertrained and undereducated, and don’t have living-wage employment options.

CIELO fills this gap. While there are service providers in our Southern California region who support mainstream entrepreneurs, only CIELO matches underserved entrepreneurs with mentors by prioritizing language first and geography last.  The Source meets underserved entrepreneurs at their comfort level, to help them dream bigger, and surround them with the education, mentorship, capital, and other resources needed to launch and grow their businesses; 90% of our clients are low-to-moderate income and 70% are women. Furthermore, The Source is uniquely positioned nationally by prioritizing spoken language over other factors in its algorithm to match entrepreneurs with coaches - this empowers the entrepreneur to choose who they feel is the best cultural fit and meets their needs.

Working directly with our target population to identify needs and formulate solutions has been a part of CIELO’s model from the very beginning, when CIELO first launched as an incubated project of community-based organization, Oak View Renewal Partnership (OVRP). OVRP built the original pilot of CIELO by hiring community members to interview their neighbors to better understand their needs and help identify solutions. OVRP then hired residents to help design, develop, and pilot the first classes at the neighborhood elementary school. From there, we brought in partners like Goodwill to provide additional support with these classes. This early piloting was the impetus behind conducting a county-wide feasibility study with the leadership of a Wells Fargo executive who worked with us on loan for three months. That feasibility became the roadmap for building CIELO. 

Small businesses are the backbone of local economies, especially in low- to moderate-income (LMI) or communities of color. Studies show that for every dollar invested in small businesses in these communities, there’s an additional two dollars of economic activity in the broader community through increased income, spending, and tax revenue. We provide the opportunity to create more sustainable sources of income.

CIELO's economic impact also fuels social progress in LMI communities by creating opportunities to support other aspects of their lives. For example, parents who are forced to stay home due to unaffordable childcare still can stay home while running a home-based business. This also exposes their children to the power of the entrepreneurial mindset, which inspires their future educational path. Additionally, strong income through entrepreneurship gives families the financial security and time to support basic needs like food and housing, as well as a greater sense of pride and self-esteem. 

An onramp to The Source is a critical component of the platform, because a bridge is required for a large segment of our target population, who are not yet fully comfortable in the digital universe.  To address this need, we plan to create micro-training tools that meet our clients where they're at, and help them access the platform, complete a profile, and begin exploring coaches and educational resources. 

The micro-trainings will be a part of a larger marketing campaign that breaks down the onramp training into bite-sized pieces that are short, in various formats (video, illustrations, live in-person), and culturally relevant.

The onramp training will be implemented by several types of stakeholders:

- CIELO staff throughout the client journey, starting at intake

- Community-based organizations

- Local community "promoters" who are typically sponsored by healthcare orgs

- Digital apps and social media channels that our community is familiar with, such as WhatsApp and Facebook

Small business growth reduces income inequality. Today, business growth requires digital literacy skills. Using The Source builds digital skills plus educates users on ecommerce solutions. We know new business owners benefit from one-on-one mentorship that pairs them with the best advisor for their business stage. Therefore, our matching algorithm lowers barriers to non-English speakers - 90+% of the world population - by prioritizing native language and other demographics. The Source provides new entrepreneurs a digital homebase for networking and marketing. Finally, The Source works globally on smartphones with Internet access. Globally diverse entrepreneurs can leverage support at The Source.

We are piloting The Source with partners One i/e, the Huntington Beach Adult School, and the Latino Business Student Associations at more than a dozen University of California campuses. We have had mentors explore The Source to provide feedback and help make adjustments, including first-generation, bilingual, culturally diverse, entrepreneur advisors from the national Avanza Network - recipient of the 2018 MIT Great Dome Award. As previously mentioned, our team has worked hard to conceptualize what tool we needed to broaden our reach and deepen our impact. After identifying what was needed, the team conducted intensive research to find the right solution. We then tested software solutions and tailored the best fit to our needs. We also integrated software to streamline user experience to access advising and education. We now have a product manager on the team and are prepared to begin piloting both components of The Source in more communities.

Our solution is innovative because The Source connects diverse, budding entrepreneurs with the best mentor to meet their situation, not the best mentor limited to their geographic area. It leverages the expertise of successful business people--with highly aligned cultural, language, and generational affinities--to inspire and guide under-resourced entrepreneurs through an easy-to-access connection point. Our adaptation of the platform upends the traditional matching algorithm (industry/education/expertise) and prioritizes alternative attributes that resonate more with our target population: such as native language, gender, place of origin, and target destination. The platform allows users to access individuals who wish to lend a hand from across the US, and it also provides a way for mentors to contribute their time and talent remotely. This is a turnkey solution for partner companies who want to provide volunteer opportunities for their employees. This level and scope of individualized support is not available to our community from any other sources. Because our solution is online and easily scalable, we will be able to expand access to this unique style of mentorship to any person with internet connection in the US. 

As the pilot version of The Source was just launched in late 2020, we do not have numbers served for any previous years. We currently have 25 active coaches on the mentorship part of the platform and 15 advisees, with the purpose of testing and modifying the user experience. Upon implementing the improvements requested by these Round 1 users, we intend to enroll our first 200 users combining current advanced clients and targeted new clients through partner programs. By the fall of 2021 we will be actively testing with entrepreneurs to iterate and refine the user experience. By the beginning of 2022, we plan to broadly roll out the platform to our clients and community of coaches.

On the learning management side of the platform, we have one class live for clients through the Huntington Beach Adult School and three slated for launch in late 2021. We’re actively working on building out our additional curriculum and training videos. We have two partners who are helping us tailor the system to the needs of their clients, including One i/e, which is focused on educating entrepreneurs in the Inland Empire of Southern CA. By June 2022, we anticipate that total system users, including clients, coaches, and partners will be approximately 500. 

A few of our key measurable indicators include: 

- Courses taken

- Consultations booked and attended

- Self-paced video lessons completed

- Business launch

- Business growth: annual sales 

- Business growth: jobs created/retained

- Business success: continued growth

- Become a mentor from mentee 

We will measure these along with other milestones that will be indicators of success. For example, milestones toward business launch include:

- Improved business knowledge/capacity

- Enhanced confidence in launching business

- Created business plan, projections, budget

- Obtained business licenses and permits

- Gained access to capital in grants and loans

One full-time staff (Executive Director)

One contractor (Product Manager)

One Board of Directors Chair

Two Board of Directors members

One partner (One i/e)

Executive Director Iosefa Alofaituli has deep experience in community building, fundraising, and program and business development, and was a co-founder of CIELO. Prior to joining CIELO as Executive Director, Iosefa led the Southern California expansion of Opportunity Fund, now Accion Opportunity Fund, a financial support system for small businesses that advances racial, gender, and economic justice for all.

Product Manager Tina Lin has had diverse and successful careers in Japan, Taiwan, and the US, specializing in establishing market fit, expanding partnership for B2B platforms, and leading cross-cultural contract negotiation.

Board member John Hobson has more than 20 years of experience in successful entrepreneurship and leading marketing efforts for large ecommerce retailers. He has expertise working with Fortune 500 firms, as well as early stage start-up companies. 

Board chair Belinda de la Libertad and Board member Jacob Rael are first-generation graduates of MIT and hail from low-income families in San Antonio and Albuquerque respectively. Each has experience with starting and managing small businesses, each are bilingual English/Spanish speakers, and each has spent decades volunteering to help low-income communities gain access to higher education and career opportunities. They are both members of the Avanza Network, where combined they have facilitated the investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars in member-owned companies since 2018.

Partner Justin Radeka, CEO of One i/e, is a visionary technology business leader with demonstrated ability to design and execute overall strategy for the growth and profitability of a technical organization.

At the center of CIELO’s work are our clients, who represent a range of cultures, genders, ethnicities, and backgrounds, factors by which we assess diversity. Over 70% of our clients are minority populations. Our goal is to provide a diverse breadth of people with opportunities to thrive and grow in their economic lives. Often, racial and ethnic minority entrepreneurs are the last to receive the opportunities that CIELO provides, as was evident by the initial rounds of the federal government’s PPP loan program, when lower-income, immigrants, and BIPOC entrepreneurs were largely left out of the opportunity to access needed capital.

CIELO does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, age, or any other factor. Our team represents the primarily female and Latino population we serve, with half of our Board of Directors representing these communities. We have made improvements in the diversity of our Board with our current Board chair also representing the Latina community. We also seek out diverse volunteers who can work with clients in their own languages.           

Diversity and inclusion are a focus of our Board governance and Board development work moving forward. This year, we would like to conduct a deep analysis of our current Board members to identify relevant skills, networks, backgrounds, and demographic makeup. In doing so, we will also acknowledge gaps to define our opportunities to grow in size and diversity. We also plan to apply the same approach to our team, leadership, and volunteers.

We are seeking opportunities for expansion and partners who can help new communities of people in need around the U.S. become aware of the support available to them on The Source. This challenge represents the opportunity to get The Source in front of more people, through the collaboration of the Challenge partners. 

We are seeking partners to help distribute The Source to more communities around the U.S., diversify our funding model, and help us gain more exposure beyond Southern California.

Workforce development, housing, and other direct services non-profits seeking to supplement the services available to their clients. 

CIELO is qualified for the HP Prize based on our re-design of the matching algorithm within The Source. Our primary objective is to serve the priorities and perspective of our under-resourced clients, rather than the perspective of industry or institutions. This adjustment modifies the entire mentorship engagement by centering the client, not the mentor. It also enhances the agency of the client, who will be free to choose a suggested mentor they most prefer, rather than being assigned a mentor by less-informed means. As such, the client may select a mentor of their own race, cultural background, or 1st-language preference, and their choice will be honored.  Additionally, we are actively recruiting experienced mentors and consultation topics that can speak to concerns and questions of first-generation business owners of color. 

If selected, we would use the funds to cover our marketing budget to create culturally appropriate videos and infographics for widespread distribution, in at least three languages and multiple dialects. We can also use these funds to design, create, and launch our onramp solutions that our most basic users can access to break The Source account creation down into even smaller bite sizes.