Announcement
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Atlanta, in partnership with Refugee Women’s Network (RWN), the Latin American Association (LAA), and the Somali American Community Center (SACC), has received an $800,000 award from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Community Navigator Pilot Program (CNPP).
The award is part of a $100 million federal American Rescue Plan initiative to support small business economic recovery and will help small business owners from Georgia's diverse communities rebuild resilient, thriving companies.
Representatives of the nonprofit organizations and federal government introduced this new initiative at a Media Launch event on April 21, hosted by Clarkston Community Center. At the launch, attendees had the opportunity to hear from and engage with several refugee and immigrant business owners about their entrepreneurial journeys and their fight to survive through the COVID-19 pandemic, including Amarylis Gonalez, founder of Ama Spa, Mada Diakite, founder of Mada JY, and Mariam Mohamed, founder of Friendship Coffeehouse in Decatur, who also catered the event!
Catering from Friendship Coffeehouse in Decatur.
Photo: IRC Atlanta
How could I possibly compete in such an environment, let alone start a business in a time when people were more concerned with protecting themselves against the virus?
Among the speakers was also Shelleyan Lewars, founder of Eco Earth Essentials LLC and an IRC Microenterprise Development client.
Photo: IRC Atlanta
Among the speakers was also Shelleyan Lewars, founder of Eco Earth Essentials LLC and an IRC Microenterprise Development client. Shelleyan, originally from Jamaica, was roughly five months from completing her Master’s in Sustainability Leadership when she began to build her company in July 2019. But just as she was preparing to launch, the COVID-19 pandemic stopped everything in its tracks. “The narrative around environmental sustainability, going green and ditching single-use plastics, suddenly shifted to toilet paper, sanitizers, masks, and social distancing,” Shelleyan shared. “How could I possibly compete in such an environment, let alone start a business in a time when people were more concerned with protecting themselves against the virus?”
IN THE AJC: Immigrant and refugee entrepreneurs receive resources for pandemic recovery
The pandemic temporarily upended Shelleyan’s entrepreneurial vision and—like many other small businesses in the state—the road to recovery has not been without its challenges. Thankfully, with new federal resources through the two-year CNPP initiative to bolster existing efforts, the IRC in Atlanta, RWN, the LAA, and the SACC have the capacity to support up to 600 diverse small business owners across Georgia to rebuild and recover, with a specific focus on helping refugees, immigrants, and individuals from underserved communities. “The goal is to connect with over 400 grassroots organizations like the IRC, people you know and trust, and shrink the gap between those underserved markets and anything that will help their businesses to grow,” shared Jeffrey Patterson, a Georgia representative of the U.S. SBA.
Our collective network will help Georgia’s diverse small businesses to recover from the impacts of COVID-19 by providing no-cost business counseling, training, technical assistance, and support with accessing up to $3 million in small business relief, with interpretation for all services and trainings available upon request. Kendall Souders, Microenterprise Development Supervisor at the IRC in Atlanta, shared, “We’re so excited to continue to provide these amazing services at the IRC in Atlanta and increase our capacity to serve more clients in Metro-Atlanta and all of Georgia through this project.”
Thankfully, organizations like the IRC, which has kept on the promise of the needs of refugees and immigrants, are implementing programs and providing access to resources that make it a little easier for foreign born entrepreneurs like me to move forward.
America’s small business owners—especially those from refugee, immigrant and other diverse populations—have long been critical to the economic health of the U.S. and communities nationwide. In Georgia, immigrants play an outsized role in the state's small business community: They make up one-tenth of the state’s population but own nearly one-third of all Main Street businesses, employing thousands of Georgians and generating billions in revenue each year. This award will not only provide needed support to these entrepreneurs as they emerge from the pandemic, but it will produce far-reaching benefits for Georgians across the state. “Accessing capital is especially hard for us immigrants and refugees because we often to do not have the right collateral, credit or sales volumes to help us qualify,” Shelleyan shared. “Thankfully, organizations like the IRC, which has kept on the promise of the needs of refugees and immigrants, are implementing programs and providing access to resources that make it a little easier for foreign born entrepreneurs like me to move forward.”
SHOP ONLINE: Eco Earth Essentials LLC
Marietta Murton, Business Development Coordinator at the LAA, Shelleyan Lewars and Brigitte Bowser, Financial Coach at the IRC in Atlanta.
Photo: IRC Atlanta
We invite IRC community members to help spread the word about these new resources for Georgia entrepreneurs and ensure that all small business owners have the opportunity to receive the locally-based and culturally- and linguistically-appropriate support they need to recover and thrive. Find flyers about the program to print and share on social media here.
Are you a Georgia business owner in need of assistance? Contact us at smallbiznavigator.org or email IRC’s Microenterprise Development Supervisor, Kendall Souders, at [email protected] today!
To learn more about the work of the IRC in Atlanta and for information on how you can get involved with the IRC as a donor or volunteer, please contact Development Director, Heloise Ahoure, at [email protected] or 678-636-8941.
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