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Meet Kayla...

“Kayla” spent a decade working at a local hotel cleaning rooms, doing laundry and serving the continental breakfast. The hours of a housekeeper were long and hard to balance with raising a young family, but she loved the work. Inspired by her kids, Kayla started to dream of owning her own cleaning business serving local businesses and households. She signed up for business classes at a Women’s Business Center and wrote up a business plan through the program. Within a year, she got her first cleaning contract and enrolled in college to build her knowledge and skills. Since leaving the hotel, Kayla became a bona fide businesswoman with a sustained cleaning business and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.

Despite all her hard work and sleepless nights, Kayla is still barely making it. She’s only paid herself twice in five years, relying on her husband’s salary for the family’s income. As she doesn’t have the resources to hire employees or take on clients that would offer higher-paying contracts, Kayla is hoping to get a business loan to expand.

Without strong profits and a thin credit history, she is stuck in the black women entrepreneur’s catch-22.

Kayla’s story mirrors those of many Black women entrepreneurs, particularly those from low- and moderate-income households, which constitute 58% of all African American households.

We want to create transformative change by closing the gap in funding and business resources for BLACK WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS who are under-served and underrepresented.

isupportHER® is a bridge to safety for black women business owners who need micro-loans to keep their businesses open. isupportHER has a vetting process to award black women entrepreneurs $2,000, $5,000 or $10,000 to finance a particular need, whether that’s purchasing equipment, hiring staff, buying inventory, launching a tech startup’s, or another approved purpose.

Black-owned businesses have been disproportionately affected by the economic impact of COVID-19 and “decades of systemic oppression,” which allows us to fund, grow and build wealth in communities that are underserved, undercapitalized, under-resourced and most devastated by the global pandemic.

Here is what we know about black women businesses and the different areas of challenges that they encounter:

Black business face funding challenges
African American businesses have limited funding options
Black business are underrepresented
Black business owners create jobs in spite of challenges
Black businesses need more support and resources to grow

These challenges have their roots in a long history of racism in the public and private sectors that has left the African American community uniquely wealth and asset poor creating a major barrier to sustainable business development.

Unless something changes to make things better and make more cash available, we’ll be where we are.

I’m surviving. I pay one bill at a time. It’s a daily walk. It’s a faith walk."

ENTREPRENEUR IN GEORGIA

Open doors for HER

isupportHER® is focused on helping to build black women-owned businesses with business resources and grant funding.

Our membership also aims to bridge the earning gap between black women business owners in the United States. The membership also provides tools and resources for business owners to be able to easily access.

isupportHER® Membership Levels

Get instant access to 30 plus On-demand small business training classes.
Specialized workshops and masterclass training will start in August 2021 for Elevate Members.

Note: You can apply for funding after three months of Elevate membership.

MVPwork CEO Becky A. Davis founded isupportHER three years ago to support non-profit causes that was near-and-dear to her heart. Each year her team selected two non-profit organizations, started by black women, to support by donating the proceeds from isupportHer products to their charitable organization. In response to the devastating economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement after the death of George Floyd, and the devastating impact to black owned businesses, isupportHER shifted its focus to helping black women owned business.

CBS News report found 41 percent of Black-owned businesses have been shuttered by COVID-19 compared to just 17 percent of white-owned businesses.

Ms. Davis said, “It’s time to stop waiting for equality in lending and fair lending practices. There are 5 C’s of lending: collateral, capacity, condition, character, and capital. But there is the hidden 6th C, COLOR.”

Put your money where
your mouth is for HER

I’m still learning. I just know that working for somebody for 30-40 years is not it—not without having something of my own. Many young African Americans have limited savings or high student loan burdens that put them behind the curve, and limit their access to credit tools before they even have a chance to build anything."

ENTREPRENEUR IN GEORGIA

ISupportHER® Principles

S - Show up for HER
U - Unite and collaborate with HER
P - Put your money where your mouth is for HER
P - Pay it forward to HER
O - Open doors for HER
R - Reveal your resources to HER
T - Teach / mentor HER

Where would you like to start?

We didn’t inherit nothing; nothing was passed down. Our parents do all they can for us, but it was all on us from the beginning.”

ENTREPRENEUR IN NORTH CAROLINA