Big Boss Inc. Youth Business Incubator

Youth economic advancement

South LA South Bay Long Beach Antelope Valley County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

On Deck’s BIPOC Business Report shares a glaring statistic for entrepreneurship in the country: in 2020, 1 in 6 new entrepreneurs were Black, 1 in 5 were Latino, and 1 in 15 identified as Asian. YRTTF is already serving the populations in need to address this: about 49% of our students identified as Hispanic or Latinx, about 27% identified as Asian or Pacific Islander, and about 12% identified as Black or African American.
While the majority of firms in LA County (55%) were minority-owned as of the 2015 census, Quentin Strode of Vermont Slauson Economic Development Center attests that Black businesses fall hardest in LA County’s short business cycles. “[We] are in the top ten in the country in business starts, but we’re also in the top ten in the country for business failures,” he says. Preparing our young BIPOC entrepreneurs for the pitfalls and complexities of doing business in this county will be essential in helping them build a successful and lasting business.

Big Boss Inc. Youth Business Incubator (BBIYBI) will serve business-minded BIPOC youth, giving them the space to be visionaries, boost their confidence, and build relationships and communication skills. BBIYBI is a 2-day workshop equipping our youth from all over Los Angeles County, most concentrated in Long Beach, South Bay, South LA, and Antelope Valley, with real-world entrepreneurial skills, a stipend, and the chance to secure seed funding. We will also provide transportation support to students in need: rideshare vouchers, gas cards, or shuttle support.
Applicants will submit a business plan, including a business proposal, marketing plan, and proposed budget; and a video pitch for the chance to land a space in BBIYBI. A selection of 30 entrepreneurs will receive (1) a $500 participant stipend; (2) access to business owners and entrepreneurs from their community via mentor roundtables; (3) hands-on training in branding, budgeting, and pitching; and (4) the chance to be awarded $500-1,000 in seed funding.
We have deep partnerships with mission-aligned organizations such as Ruth’s Place (Coalition for Responsible Community Development), Millikan High School and St. Anthony High School, Long Beach LGBTQ Center, Learn 4 Life, Jefferson High School, USC Neighborhood Academic Initiative, Schools of Arts & Enterprise, Los Angeles County of Education, and St. Mary Medical Center’s EM3 Program. We will publicize our new program to the students we reach through these partnerships.

The LA County business landscape will look markedly different if BBIYBI is successful. More independently run shops will dot the business districts both physically and online, enriching our local economy and communities, and a larger proportion of them will last beyond the 5-year mark.
We envision this for a recent recipient of the Big Boss Inc. mini-grant, Terrance. His business idea, The Art Lounge – a venue providing space to paint on large canvases and relax with whiskey, good food, and cigars – fits the LA scene perfectly but he will need to navigate the complicated web of commercial real estate. Ritu Mahajan of Public Counsel points to speculative real estate that hits BIPOC business owners especially hard, who are less likely to have the support to navigate the complex environment. By exposing our youth to real-life challenges and experiences, we can equip aspiring entrepreneurs like Terrance with the tools necessary to build lasting businesses.