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Local business owners joined University of Chicago leaders, students and faculty at the Polsky Exchange Open House on September 8, 2022. (Photo by John Zich)
The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago is expanding programs that foster the growth of local small businesses and improve the economic health of their communities.
As part of its nationwide Ascend program, a $400,000 grant from JP Morgan Chase tripled the duration of the Polsky Center’s Small Business Growth Program (SBGP) to help clients implement effective growth strategies. support. The goal is to help small businesses on Chicago’s South and West Sides reach his $1 million mark in revenue and drive economic growth in their communities.
Abigail Ingram, executive director of Polsky Exchange, which runs the Polsky Center’s community programs, said: “We not only provide technical assistance and expertise from our world-class Booth School of Business, but also the means to implement that expertise to achieve meaningful growth.”
Abigail Ingram
The Polsky Center, in conjunction with the university’s civic engagement office, partners with top universities and institutions to provide business support and opportunities for minority-owned, women-owned, and veteran-owned businesses in major metropolitan areas. Involved in JPMorgan Chase’s Ascend Program. According to Ascend, the median white-owned company earns 1.5 times more than the median Latino-owned company and five times more than the median African-American owned company.
Since its launch in 2017, Polski Center’s SBGP has received an annual Ascend grant to perform a 10-week engagement with a small business client. These clients work with UChicago’s team of student consultants to develop strategies to address their specific business challenges. After the customer asked for help implementing the recommendations, the Polsky Center revamped the program to focus on implementation, extending the customer’s engagement to his 30 weeks.
Joanna Trotter, Head of Chicago Philanthropy at JPMorgan Chase, said: “We have seen firsthand that helping entrepreneurs of color to scale is key to unlocking opportunities that lift entire communities. We are proud to extend our investment in small business growth programs to support and grow.”
With the new funding, SBGP will support business clients through three phases. (2) his 10-week planning phase to introduce the client to service providers and plan the execution of the strategy; Ongoing advice from coaches and students. (3) The 10-week implementation phase allows clients to deploy up to $5,000 in services to approved vendors for implementation of the plan, with ongoing support from the coach and his Polsky Center team. These vendors, which do everything from developing apps to creating content for marketing needs, are all her BIPOC or women-owned businesses.
The program connects B2B clients with college procurement opportunities, as well as partners Chartwells Higher Education and a corporate alliance of Chicago.
We are currently accepting applications for the next cohort to begin programming in January. The application deadline for business clients is October 21st.
>> Apply here to become a business client or student consultant.
Small Business Growth Program graduates Sylvia D. and Tiffany Joi learn about FabLab at the Polsky Exchange Open House on September 8, 2022. (Photo by John Zich)
Since 2017, about 135 SMEs have participated in the SBGP, 95% of which are minority-owned and 72% women-owned. According to data collected by the Equitable Evaluation Practice, a third-party evaluator, more than 80% reported increased business success and enabled business owners to pay their own expenses, and 60% increased their family income. reported an increase in “They helped me understand who my target market was and the opportunities for growth in new markets,” said a program graduate and Bronzeville resident who owns Soul Päz Bath & Body. Founder Sylvia D. said. “It made me think about my business in a different way.”
Additionally, 286 students have been trained as SBGP consultants and have worked with clients. A quarter of his is more than one of his MBA students in the Chicago booth. In the past, most consultants were undergraduates at the University of Chicago, and there were a few graduate students from various departments, so MBA led the project.
Craig Terrill
The program is overseen by Dean Craig Terrill, Adjunct Associate Professor of Marketing at Chicago Booth, who teaches non-credit courses that provide business growth methodologies and train student consultants. Students receive scholarships for attending.
Backed by experienced business coaches and Terrill’s growth strategy expertise, the team helps clients refine their niche, drive customer acquisition and retention, and develop actionable strategies from customer, competitor, and company analysis. to help address issues that are holding back growth.
Pairing motivated entrepreneurs with students who bring new perspectives and expertise is a successful approach. “The Chicago business owner has a strong passion for his customers, his community, and the products and services he offers,” said Terrill. “They have big goals and the energy to act quickly. I love being able to witness it and being able to experience it in their own careers.”
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