We Rise Business Accelerator Graduates Its Third Cohort of Local Black Entrepreneurs.
After going through a six-month business accelerator program, 15 local Black entrepreneurs graduated on July 30th at the Arizona Heritage center. The graduation consisted of a business exposition to showcase the businesses and a ceremony to celebrate their achievements over the past six months.
The We Rise Accelerator was started a year and a half ago to fulfill Local First Arizona’s mission of building equitable systems for Arizona’s local businesses and reducing racial inequities in business. During the program, entrepreneurs develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes, habits, relationships, and tools they need to grow their businesses with the help and guidance of experienced business mentors and coaches.
Over the course of six months, all 15 entrepreneurs designed or fine-tuned their business models, validated their product-market fit, wrote a business plan with clear growth milestones, developed a pitch deck to help them communicate better about their businesses, learned how to leverage their online presence to grow their sales and brand awareness, explored different financing options for businesses, and strengthened their social capital by building relationships and collaborating with other local business owners and financiers.
Joe Digs, Go Go Joe’s
It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That GoGo Swing...
GoGo Joe's is a food and catering start-up focusing on comfort foods inspired by the Washington DC area culture and unique cuisine. Joe’s ultimate goal is to build a space that black residents of Phoenix feel is their space. GoGo Joe's seeks to be a destination for African American residents and all people in Phoenix.
“We Rise has given me the tools, connections, and confidence to move forward with my dream of opening my own restaurant space. It connected me with people who challenged me to be better and try things I would never have considered had I not met them. Any success I have with Go Go Joe’s will be directly because of the lessons I learned, and people I met as part of this Cohort.”
Interested in learning more? Check out the We Rise website.
The fourth cohort of the We Rise accelerator is due to begin on Saturday, August 13, 2022, and will graduate at the end of January 2023.