Tell me about your vision.
All right, so my vision is to create an organization
with so many resources for entrepreneurs out there,
entrepreneurs that are in underrepresented communities,
entrepreneurs that are defined as BIPOC,
Black, Indigenous, People of Color,
entrepreneurs that are immigrants, and so forth.
So to be able to provide resources to entrepreneurs
from all over so they understand the fundamentals
of running their own business.
That's a definitely unique vision.
Tell me more about them.
So E4ALL is an entrepreneurship organization.
We started in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Back then, we were known as the Merrimack Valley Sandbox.
And as an entrepreneurship organization, what we do
is we help or work with aspiring entrepreneurs
to help monitor their business through our Business
Accelerator program.
And each year, we work with about 50 to 55
aspiring entrepreneurs through our Business Accelerator
program.
And the Business Accelerator program
is run in two different languages, English and Spanish.
And so in the past 10 years, Entrepreneurship for All,
or E4ALL, has helped over 1,700 businesses launch.
In 2023, our E4ALL alums, the graduates
have gone through our programming.
The alums generated over $53 million in revenue.
And as a business owner grows and scales their business,
they will hire from the community.
And so our alums has also contributed to the workforce
by hiring from locals.
And they've helped to create over 2,000 local jobs.
And a lot of times, people will ask me, well,
exactly who do you work with?
Who are your entrepreneurs?
So to give you some stats here for my site,
my entrepreneurs consist of the following.
79% of the entrepreneurs I work with are women-owned.
72% are BIPOC-owned.
And 31% are immigrant-owned.
Our organization was designed on purpose
to work with underrepresented communities.
You'll find an E4ALL in communities that may not
have all the resources.
And that's what we're here for, is to be able to provide
those resources.
And in our case, is to be a resource to those
that want to open up their own business.
And in addition to our Business Accelerator program, what we do
is we pair each entrepreneur that's
in our Business Accelerator program
with a team of two mentors.
And the mentors will help guide them while they're
going through the program.
Because here's the thing that people don't realize,
is that you heard the stats of who my entrepreneurs are
earlier, right?
They're BIPOC, they're women-owned,
they're immigrant-owned.
They have the vision, they have the idea,
they have the passion.
But a lot of times, what they don't have
is the confidence to launch that business.
Where did this vision come from?
So that's such a good question.
So the vision actually came from a person named Desh Nishmandey.
He is a philanthropist.
And through the Nishmandey Foundation
is where we actually got the initial capital
to start E4ALL.
And this vision was a project that
was launched through the Nishmandey Foundation
and through the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.
So that's where the vision came from.
And the vision was really to help level out the playing
field.
So Lowell is a city that is known as a gateway city, right?
It's a city that is very high in numbers of immigrants.
It's a city where a majority of the people living
in the residence fall under the low to moderate income
bracket and so forth.
And so if you look at cities with that type of numbers
and stats, the income level, the home ownership,
it's not equal, right?
Maybe in comparison to other communities and so forth.
So how do you help a community, a city like Lowell,
for others to thrive?
Because research shows that if the majority of the people
in the city are doing well, the city
is going to be that much better off, right?
And so the house of vision was to level up the playing field
and really focusing on, again, underrepresented communities,
communities of color, low to moderate income families,
and so forth.
What is your goal for being on the show?
That's a good question.
I don't think I've thought about that before.
So I was just excited to talk about the entrepreneurs
we work with and the work we do.
I think the goal would be to share the message
about the world of entrepreneurship
and how it is a pathway that many do not always think about
when we think about success, when we think about life
after high school, going to college.
Many of us knows about the college pathway.
We know about the post-secondary education.
And I think many of our parents will tell us to go to college
because we have been taught that this is linear pathway
to success.
And I don't think success is linear at all, especially
for people of color.
We need to break out of that cycle, out of that mindset,
thinking that success is only within the corporate space,
and those types of being an accountant, being a lawyer,
being a doctor.
There's so much more.
Not that there's anything wrong with being an accountant
and a lawyer, right?
But we need to show our children and we
need to show everyone else that there are other ways of success.
And even if you did take the linear pathway towards success
and you can climb in that corporate ladder,
it is never too late to change your career,
to change your mind in doing something different
and taking that risk.
At the end of the day, I think we
should all take whatever risk we think
is possible to make yourself happy
and to be able to also to give back.
So do something that you love, something that's impactful,
that will leave a positive impression in the world.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions
as these episodes continue to move forward.
This is going to get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more engagement
as well, we'll invite people to participate in the show.
And thank you for giving us your time and attention.
Have an excellent time building out your vision
and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.