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Capitol Federal® proudly recognizes Black History Month during the month of February. This year, we recognize “The Black MasterMind Group Charitable Foundation,” a 501(c)(3) organization based in Kansas City, KS, that is committed to teaching strategies that Start, Stabilize, Sustain and Scale black-owned businesses. The group works collaboratively with organizations, community leaders, mentors, trainers, educators and business leaders to teach entrepreneurial literacy and business strategies designed to help the black entrepreneurial community secure funding.
Dr. Donnetta L Watson, founder of The National Black MasterMind Group, began the organization in 2015, solely to provide assistance to the Black Entrepreneurial Community. “I would interview entrepreneurs and realize that the conversations were all similar,” said Watson. “They were struggling, unable to see their way through to the next month, unable to receive funding, and did not know how to acquire it.”
During that time, Watson was an Adjunct Professor and School Administrator for The Joseph Business School, a faith-based Entrepreneurial College, in Chicago, Illinois. She too had been in a similar position with her own business so these stories resonated with her.
In 2017, she began working with black entrepreneurs across the nation serving as the National Director of Chapter Development for the group. She could tell these entrepreneurs were all Sole-Proprietors, running consumer-based business models that lacked proper structure. In 2019, she decided to put her entire focus on the organization, implementing the training program that she had developed throughout her 38-year journey as an entrepreneur. It was clear that the black entrepreneurial community was experiencing disparities that limited their ability to remain sustainable. Through the development of the training program, TBMMG is working to address this narrative.
The foundation operates under the Mastermind Concepts taught in “Think and Grow Rich,” by Napolean Hill. As Watson states, “A true MasterMind Group requires that all who join have a mindset toward achieving success and agree to work collaboratively in the spirit of harmony. Students must commit to aligning their lives and businesses toward success while provided the level of training necessary to change the community from operating hobbies, hookups, hustles to bona-fide businesses-businesses that are fundable enterprises and that require a total transformation of what they are running,” she said. “They also need to have the willingness to be educated on business and a desire to remain a student of business, always.”
One thing Watson learned quickly while starting the foundation was that fundraising is a full-time job. “We work diligently to secure scholarship funds from organizations and entities who understand our mission,” she said. “Those scholarship dollars are necessary to put an entrepreneur in the training program.”
“Capitol Federal provided us with five scholarships to put five students in the January 2022 BootCamp class,” said Watson. “We are so excited for this collaboration to help create sustainable business models in the urban core of Kansas City, KS. Upon completion, our students will go on to submit applications for capital through CapFed® to secure funding for their businesses,” she said. “We are grateful for their support and investment. We want to show how a small investment in an entrepreneur’s business will aid in the creation of a sustainable business that will impact the community by creating jobs and opportunities for others.”
Watson believes that funding requirements is one of the main reasons many black entrepreneurs have difficulty when starting their business.
“Many of the black entrepreneurial community do not know how to prepare their businesses to access capital,” said Watson. “Many are not aware there are revenue requirements. I remember the day when monthly revenue requirements were $4,000 to $6,000, and now they’re asking entrepreneurs to be at $10,000 to $12,000 a month. This is valuable information, and although it is not impossible to achieve, it takes a deeper understanding of business.”
“There are few entities teaching funding requirements and financial principles to help an entrepreneur become fundable,” she said. “Many of the black entrepreneurs we work with are not aware this is a requirement to access capital. Capital that would grow and scale up the business in order for it to become sustainable in the long term.”
Watson has a few suggestions for any entrepreneur looking to start their own business. One important tip is to become a student of business first, not just the products or services you are going to sell. Learn the language of business which, she says, is strictly financial. Know your numbers and how every decision you make in business has an impact on those numbers.
Finally, lenders and investors work with businesses who are positioned for funding: they know their numbers, they are not cash poor, they have substantial revenues and they know what to do with profit.
Beginning August 2022, TBMMG will go LIVE in their cities and hope to increase student count. They will need a substantial amount of scholarships to train 40 students per cohort with each cohort being offered each year in January, April, August and December.
The Foundation has teams in the following cities:
Kansas City
Atlanta
Chattanooga
Chicago
Cincinnati
Columbia SC
Dallas
Detroit
Hampton Roads
Houston
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Savannah
Stamford Connecticut
St Louis
Tampa-St Petersburg
St Louis
Wichita
Winterville NC
and Ghana, Africa
If you would like more information on the Foundation, provide scholarships or to donate, visit their website here.
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