Small Business Incubation Program – United States

This program goes beyond building capacity – it also helps business owners increase their credit score to provide the ability to access capital and connects them with business who are looking to expand their diverse supplier pipeline.

Goals

• Increase the capacity of current business and provide them with growth strategies
• Build a culture of savings and increase financial literacy for businesses
• Develop a diverse supplier pipeline among local companies
• Create equity in supplier base by increasing supplier representation in underutilized diversity classification for companies
• Increase the economic impact for suppliers and communities
• Strengthen brand and relationships for program partners, participants and companies

The Support

The Downtown Vegas Alliance is leading a collaborative effort with community leaders to create a 6-month Small Business Incubation Program (SBIP) that will address four major issues facing small business owners. The program provides:

• Program mentor business Coaching and peer support
• An opportunity to build Connections with other small business owners and public and private organizations by participating in a Business Opportunity Fair
• A customized Curriculum that is designed for synchronous and asynchronous learning
• Access to Capital by creating a Lending Circle for participants to build credit and receive short-term, no-interest loans

Program Elements

• In-Person Learning
  • Participants will attend one, two-hour workshop in person each month.  Each monthly workshop will focus on a different topic and feature a guest speaker and structured working time. The goal of the monthly sessions is to help you apply your learning to your business.
• Lending Circle
  • Based on Tandas which are popular in Latin cultures, participants will build their credit scores by contributing an agreed amount of money into a pool to creates a short-term no-interest loan that is paid to participants on a rotating basis.
• Mentors
  • Businesses that participate in the Lending Circle will be paired with mentors from the diverse chambers to work with them throughout the 6-month program. These mentors will help participants learn through their personal experiences and expand their network.
• Online Learning & Templates
  • To complement the in-person sessions, participants will engage with an online learning platform. The online learning will be structured in two parts: one with pre-learning materials designed to unlock the maximum value of the in-person sessions, and one to provide resources and reference materials that you can use after the in-person session when applying new strategies to your business.
• Business Opportunity Fair
  • The program culminates with a celebratory Business Opportunity Fair during the final in-person session. The event features a “graduation ceremony” during which each participant is invited to give a brief pitch about their business. After the ceremony, participants host a display table to market themselves and their companies to the invited guests and local industry leaders.
• Membership
  • Participants will receive a free one-year membership in the Downtown Vegas Alliance, Latin Chamber of Commerce and Urban Chamber of Commerce. That’s nearly a $2,000 value!

Outcomes

• Economic impact resulting from this program will include business growth, new jobs provided, and taxes paid
• Create thriving communities by providing small and diverse businesses opportunities to grow and succeed
• Build a strong pipeline of employees, suppliers and services providers
• Economically stronger communities
• Small business growth
• Increased diverse suppliers
• Increased diverse spend
• Increased disposable income

Qualifications

• Business owners must meet the following criteria:
  • Have a current Las Vegas Business License
  • Have revenue of under $500,000 per year
  • Have low or unestablished credit
  • Have a bank account
• This program is focused on minority-owned businesses
  • Black
  • Latin
  • Asian
  • Women
  • LGBTQ+
  • Veterans

For more information, visit Downtown Vegas Alliance.