Democratizing Economic Opportunity

Racial disparities in income and socioeconomic mobility are among the most visible and persistent features in the US. At Centro, we are focused on addressing structural racism and advancing a more just and inclusive economy for BIPOC and women, by expanding systems for access to economic opportunities and enabling participation in business ownership.

Our proposed solution(s) - the Centro App, and entrepreneurship training and financial literacy programs, have been specifically designed for low-income BIPOC and women entrepreneurs to help them overcome structural racism and have equal access to economic opportunity and upward mobility.

If scaled globally, we offer a proven model to expand access for BIPOC and women that want to pursue entrepreneurship as a pathway towards building self-sustainability and generational wealth, creating a systemic change to promote small business development ecosystems that provide equal access to entrepreneurship education, working capital and business support services, regardless of sex or race.

Latinx and African-Americans have emerged as the fastest growing demographic segment in the US in the last 15 years, demonstrating the highest rates of entrepreneurship. In the US, small business ownership is a traditional pathway for wealth building and prosperity and small businesses are a significant source of employment. For Latinx and African-American families, small business ownership offers an opportunity to achieve financial stability, build generational wealth, sustain household income and contribute towards positive economic and social benefits.

Unfortunately, business ownership and profitability of small businesses are unevenly distributed by race. Although Black Americans make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, they own less than 2 percent of small businesses with employees. By contrast, white Americans make up 60 percent of the U.S. population but own 82 percent of small employer firms (US Census Bureau). The current small business development ecosystem in the US faces several challenges including:

1) Lack of access to culturally and linguistically relevant technical assistance programs.

2) Lack of access and knowledge regarding appropriate capital products and financial services serving BIPOC or women owned small businesses.

3) A fragmented micro-enterprise development ecosystem unable to reach BIPOC communities or women entrepreneurs.

By utilizing the best practices in adult education and mobile technology, Centro’s solution offers a combination of self-learning tools and online programs to provide equal access to economic opportunity for BIPOC and women to start or grow small businesses.

1) Centro App: Our unique Centro App helps aspiring entrepreneurs or existing business owners to:

● Create their business plan and define their business models.

● Create their Personal and Business financial statements.

● Plan for a new or growing small business without having any formal entrepreneurship training.

● Connect with local small business micro-lenders and support resources.

Any entrepreneur can download the Centro App for free from the Apple App Store or Google Android Store on their smartphones or tablets.

2) Online Entrepreneurship and Financial Literacy Programs: Centro also provides online entrepreneurship training and financial literacy programs to help entrepreneurs at different stages of business (from concept stage to growth stage) to start or grow small businesses.

Entrepreneurs can sign-up for our online programs and access them using their smartphones, tablets or computers, without having to be physically present in the class, given the COVID-19 pandemic guidelines.

Our solution is primarily designed to serve low-income women, BIPOC and immigrant entrepreneurs. The profile and characteristics of our target population are:

● Low-income background with 58% earning less than $50,000 per year;

● About 80% are women

● Ethnically diverse including: Latinos (60%), Black (20%), Asians (10%) and Caucasian (10%)

● Immigrants with English as the second language;

● 15% are ages 16 to 24; 70% ages 25 to 45; 15% ages 45 to 65.

Centro democratizes access to quality entrepreneurship training, financial literacy programs, vetted nonprofit micro-lenders and business advisory service providers, as follows:

● The Centro App can be utilized as a stand-alone tool by individuals to draft business plans, access capital and connect with small business service providers.

● Combined with Centro’s online programs, the Centro App is a complimentary learning tool that enriches the learning experience

● The Centro App can be utilized to create virtual micro-enterprise development ecosystems across the US connecting BIPOC and women entrepreneurs with resources to spur small business development and asset building.

We strive to meet our entrepreneurs where they are, keeping our ear to the ground and listen to community needs. A key factor to our organization’s success is our involvement with the communities and the low-income entrepreneurs we serve. We learn directly from the entrepreneurs, incorporating feedback and making constant improvements and adjustments to our programs and offerings based on this feedback loop. We hire trainers from the community because we want our entrepreneurs to be well connected and we want our trainers to understand the needs of their cohort participants. Our core team observes the trainers throughout the year, offers feedback and encourages trainers to learn from each other. We also take feedback in the form of surveys, which allows participants to reflect honestly about the programs, and offers us the opportunity to gather valuable feedback. Our surveys act as a learning tool for our organization.

In the US, long standing racial and gender injustices continue to hinder women and minority entrepreneurs from pursuing entrepreneurship to achieve financial stability. Our solution addresses the gaps in the small business development ecosystem to support Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) and women entrepreneurs and connects them with the resources to start or grow small businesses.

Utilizing our Centro App and programs, we have successfully developed a scalable solution that can be used to promote entrepreneurship as a pathway towards employment, build economic resilience in local communities, catalyze growth of small businesses, facilitate access to capital and create jobs.

Our solution is currently at a growth stage. In 2013, we piloted our solution in Fruitvale (CA) with a group of low-income women and BIPOC entrepreneurs. Over the years, our solution (Centro App + entrepreneurship programs) has undergone various iterations to serve as a learning tool for underserved individuals who want to pursue entrepreneurship.

Since our pilot in Fruitvale, we have expanded to serve multiple geographies across the US and globally:

● The Centro App is currently being downloaded across the globe and available in English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Portuguese and Khmer. The App has delivered 5,500+ business plans.

● Our online entrepreneurship programs are available to women and BIPOC entrepreneurs across the US to help them start or grow small businesses. We currently serve 500+ entrepreneurs annually.

We are at a stage where we are strategically looking to expand access in underserved communities, where we identify a need.

Centro’s innovative approach is driven by industry data and research published by the Aspen Institute, Federal Reserve, Opportunity Finance Network, Association of Enterprise Opportunity, and the Milken Institute.

By providing online entrepreneurship education and inventing new ways to integrate training with mobile technology to reach women and BIPOC entrepreneurs, we were able to innovate. With the launch of the Centro App, we have taken an innovative leap forward to create virtual micro-enterprise development ecosystems accessible to women, BIPOC entrepreneurs and underserved communities nationwide. Using technology,  we were able to lower the time it took to create a basic business plan from weeks to three (3) hours as well as lower the cost of providing entrepreneurship education from a national average of $4,500 to about $1,000 per entrepreneur. As supported by research and our recent impact report, the participation of these entrepreneurs in the economy will create jobs, build assets and alleviate poverty in underserved communities.

We have taken a systemic approach to catalyze systems change. The current micro-enterprise development ecosystem in the US is not well equipped to serve the needs of BIPOC and women entrepreneurs and hence represents a huge economic opportunity to make a difference. Given our scalable solution, through the Centro App and online programs, we are creating equitable micro-enterprise development ecosystems globally to provide equal economic opportunity to underserved individuals and communities

Current number = 958

Year 1 = 1,100

Year 5 = 2,000

We measure the progress towards our goals diligently. Some of the indicators we track include:

1) Number of entrepreneurs served or positively impacted

2) Number of loans or dollar value of loans facilitated

3) Number of vetted CDFIs and MDOs introduced or hosted on the Centro App

4) Number of entrepreneurs connected with resources (such as micro-lenders or MDOs)

For our programs we also look at a number of other indicators, including: started to sell, started to earn a living wage, started to access capital. We’re working to add functionality to our App to be able to monitor the progress of all of our entrepreneurs - both in our programs and those just using our App.

Full-time: 6

Part-time: 8

The proposed solution will be delivered by our team of experts in technology, education and economic development, representing diverse cultures, ethnicities and spoken languages, serving women and BIPOC entrepreneurs for 11+ years. Over the years, we have learned from our successes and failures, leveraging our experience to become thought leaders in our industry, developing culturally and linguistically relevant programs/services, addressing barriers that hinder the progress of low-income women and BIPOC entrepreneurs.

Our value proposition lies in our involvement with the communities we serve and the trust we have built with them. We are known for our empathy, innovation, and commitment to serve the entrepreneurial community. We hire people from the communities we serve as we want our entrepreneurs to be well connected and we want our trainers to understand and empathize with the needs of their cohort participants. We have a strong emphasis on understanding the community needs and building a lasting bond with our program participants as their trusted advisor. We have an exceptionally well-trained team in facilitation and cultural humility - they are coached to be active listeners and given their diverse experience and background, they are well-equipped and have the experience necessary to connect with women and BIPOC entrepreneurs and become a partner in their success.

We have a vision - we are committed to addressing the lack of social justice and equal access for entrepreneurship. The power of entrepreneurship to close the racial wealth gap is proven, and the implications are communal and societal.

We recognize that the success and the well-being of our staff and beneficiaries grows from a culture of inclusivity, equity, excellence and we embrace diversity, which includes a full spectrum of attributes, backgrounds, cultures, identities, abilities, beliefs, and ideas that enrich communities. We believe that each one of us wants to know that we belong and we are seen, heard, and valued. We want to be acknowledged for our unique perspectives and work and learn together side-by-side embracing our differences.

At Centro, we value inclusion and diversity and we strive to empower the marginalized members of our community to help them reach their full potential. This is why our staff and board are comprised of Latinx, Blacks, East Indians, Asians, Native Americans and Whites with 40% men and 60% women. As we grow, we are making constant efforts to embrace diversity and promote equity as follows:

1) We provide coaching to women in our team to create pathways for them to leadership roles.

2) We are working with an external agency (Trill Multicultural) to review our DEI policies and advise us as we create pathways to achieve these goals.

As part of our approach, we also only collaborate with organizations that practice diversity, equity and inclusion because it embodies our values, greater vision and advocacy efforts.

We are applying because we are a part of a national movement that builds equity and social justice that helps underserved workers. As a tech-based non-profit, we address the barriers head on to scale solutions to help millions of BIPOC and women entrepreneurs.

We believe that innovation, entrepreneurial drive and motivation is distributed equally regardless of race or gender, but opportunity and resources to exercise that innovative and entrepreneurial spirit are impacted by institutional racism in the economic development system. These systemic and racial challenges deny BIPOC communities the opportunity to pursue entrepreneurship in an equitable way. Centro seeks to support BIPOC and women entrepreneurs by providing them access to resources and financial tools. Impacted individuals can exercise their self-determination and change their communities by breaking the cycle of poverty through their own drive and entrepreneurial spirit.

The current small business development ecosystem faces several challenges including lack of access to culturally and linguistically relevant programs, appropriate capital products, and expertise amongst providers. Solve can help us address these challenges by becoming our thought partner and connect us with resources or partners in its network to help us continue building our technology and market our programs and services nationally.

We are looking for partners who can provide us with advice and mentorship in following key areas:

Business Model: The Centro App as a platform provides us with opportunities to generate revenue and lower our dependence on grants. As such, we would like advice on alternative revenue streams that can leverage our app, curriculum and programs.

Monitoring and Evaluation: We need a data and evaluation expert to provide advice and validate our impact methods, as we look to innovate with how we can collect data in an efficient and cost-effective manner and use our findings to improve our programs, inform policy makers and ultimately help low-income, minority and women entrepreneurs.

Public relations: To market our solution nationally, we would benefit from additional guidance to reach women and minority entrepreneurs, CDFIs and MDOs nationwide.

Centro would like to pursue partnerships with the following organizations to help us advance our solution:

1) Ecosystem Partners: As we plan to execute a national rollout of the Centro App, we would like to collaborate with ecosystem partners who can adopt our solution to serve their mission or objectives and introduce us to their member organizations or chapters nationally. Some of the organizations that we would like to partner with include United States Small Business Association (SBA), Women’s Business Centers, Small Business Development Corporations (SBDCs), Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), Urban League and Aspen Institute.

2) Marketing Partners: To spread the word regarding our solution and promote it nationally, we would like to partner with Univision, Comcast and Netflix.

3) Funding Partners: Given our focus to promote entrepreneurship as a pathway towards building resilient economies and supporting women and minorities, we align well with giving focus to prominent funding organizations that we would like to partner with. We would like to pursue funding from Kauffman Foundation, Kellogg Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation and collaborate with them to pursue funding opportunities to support our solution for national rollout.

4) MIT faculty: We would also like to engage with MIT faculty to advise us on data management processes and measuring our impact.

In the midst of an ongoing pandemic crippling the economy and increasing inequality along racial lines, it is more important than ever to reduce barriers and provide equal economic opportunity to women and minorities, making it easier for them to start and grow businesses. Our proposed solution is designed to introduce entrepreneurship as a pathway towards economic security, address the barriers that hinder progress of women, minorities and immigrants and build entrepreneurial ecosystems to catalyze small business development and support.

We would use the Elevate Prize to invest in capacity building, launch a Learning Management System (LMS), offer programs and support to entrepreneurs of color, and invest in marketing our solution nationwide.

1. Launch a Learning Management System (LMS) to Support Online and In-Person Workshops: We are well-positioned to scale our services by utilizing our online entrepreneurship training, financial literacy programs and the Centro App. The LMS will enable Centro to scale its programs by streamlining its services, creating efficiencies in program management and reporting by using a centralized online platform for program participants, trainers, partnership network and our program management team.

Intended Impact

●  The LMS will allow us to improve and scale the quality of our program(s) to reach 400 entrepreneurs annually, representing an increase of 33% from the current level.

● It will help us lower our cost of program management by 30%.

●  The LMS will help us boost our workshop Net Promoter Score from current 84 to 90+ points.

2. Building Localized Virtual Microenterprise Development Ecosystems: The Centro App is a proven solution to catalyze small business development in underserved communities. Today, we manually add lenders and resources on the Centro App. As we look to significantly scale our reach nationally, we will need to design and automate a process for nonprofits, micro-lenders and business development resource organizations to input and update their information themselves to build localized micro-enterprise development ecosystems that catalyze small business development and support women and minority entrepreneurs.  

Intended Impact

● We expect to integrate 500+ funding and business resources on the Centro App nationwide.

● We will leverage our technology to reach 10,000+ underserved entrepreneurs per year and help them start or grow their micro/small businesses.

● We will provide a platform for micro-lenders to connect with qualified borrowers and facilitate access to more than $1 million in capital annually to women and minority entrepreneurs.

3. Invest in Marketing to Reach Underserved Communities: We currently lack a dedicated marketing personnel to market our solutions and programs to connect with aspiring entrepreneurs and businesses that need support. Centro will hire a marketing strategist to help create and execute a go-to-market and promotion strategy that can help us reach entrepreneurs and women and minority led businesses in vulnerable communities

Intended Impact:

· Launch a nationwide marketing campaign to reach 10,000+ women, minorities  and small businesses annually via media outlets and platforms.

Centro offers a digital and technological solution to expand economic opportunity globally, providing marginalized individuals and communities a pathway towards inclusion and financial independence. Designed specifically for underserved BIPOC individuals with little or no business experience or education using human centered design principles, the Centro App and programs are a scalable or turn-key solution to advance access and empower low-income individuals pursue entrepreneurship, start or grow small businesses, build generational wealth and transform communities. Given our alignment with HP Prize for Advancing Digital Equity, we are qualified for this prize. We will use the HP Prize as follows:

1) Deploy a Learning Management System (LMS) to Support Workshops: Our aim is to deploy a LMS that can offer our programming globally in underserved communities. The LMS will enable Centro to scale our programs, creating efficiencies in program management by using a centralized platform for program participants, Centro’s trainers, Centro’s partnership network and our program management team.

2) Integrate Centro App Survey Tool to Measure Impact in Real Time: Collecting impact data is one of the most challenging tasks for nonprofit organizations in our industry. By integrating surveys in the Centro App, we will be able to better gauge how many people are achieving positive results by measuring the incremental progress of our program participants.

3) Marketing the Centro App and our Programs: To market our solution nationally, we will launch a marketing campaign utilizing a variety of media outlets and platforms to reach underserved communities in the US and globally.

Even though women and minorities have emerged as one of the fastest growing segments of new business creation in the US, they face greater hurdles, such as accessing enterprise building tools, networks and capital, which impede their growth, thus denying them the opportunity to create an asset-building enterprise as means of financial stability. The COVID-19 pandemic has further affected women forcing them to make tough choices as they juggle family responsibilities and professional aspirations.

Centro has dedicated itself to provide entrepreneurship education and build technological tools to offer entrepreneurship as a career pathway for women and girls. Besides participating in our in-person programs, women can pursue entrepreneurship from anywhere by attending our online programs or using our innovative Centro App – a free solution designed to provide entrepreneurship education, enable access to capital, receive one-on-one business advisory services and connect with local business resources. Given Centro’s commitment to address the economic, gender inequality and promote a more gender inclusive world for women and girls, we are qualified for the prize. We will use the prize to:

1) Provide entrepreneurship training and financial literacy programs in multiple languages for aspiring women entrepreneurs and women-led small businesses.

2) Launch a Learning Management System to enable access to online entrepreneurship training programs for underserved women and train-the-trainer.

3) Train other non-profits to adopt Centro’s tools and curriculum to scale their services and serve more women. 

4) Facilitate access to capital and business support services for women entrepreneurs to help them build successful small businesses.