BALSA Foundation

Our mission is to promote social equity and prosperity in the St. Louis region by empowering first-time entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses. We fulfill this mission by:

Maintaining an online, step-by-step guide to starting a business;

Providing free feedback from experts to anyone with a business idea; and,

Providing cash grants, mentorship, and donations of professional services to first-time entrepreneurs who need and will benefit from them the most.

Rachel Simon-Lee, was a Summer 2017 BALSA Grant Finalist and the founder of Heartwork Videos. Heartwork Videos is a video production resource that can be utilized in the training of surgeons. In addition to using the videos to train surgeons, the videos produced by Heartwork allows patients and their family members to capture the key moments during their surgical procedures.

Since becoming a BALSA Grant Finalist, Rachel has scaled her business and has hired an employee she considers a “phenomenal editor” to help her with the editing of the videos. When asked how the BALSA Foundation has helped her, Rachel states “BALSA gave me my first pitch experience. I was nervous, I was excited, I was anxious but that prepared me for Startup Connection”. As a BALSA Grant Finalist, Rachel was required to have a business pitch and practice it. This prepared her for Startup Connection, an event in which entrepreneurs share their businesses with potential investors and the innovation community. By the end of Startup Connection, Rachel walked away with an additional $4,500 that she won for her business! Rachel has also participated in other competitions such as the Brazen STL pitch competition which prepared her for the Be Seen Brunch where she was also a finalist. Rachel emphasizes that the likelihood of her winning other competitions would have been low if she had not become a BALSA Grant Finalist.

Rachel also notes that the in-kind donations provided by the BALSA Foundation and other volunteers was also very helpful in building her business. In addition to the $1,000 cash grant she received as a BALSA Grant Finalist, Rachel got the opportunity to meet with a lawyer, an accountant and marketing professionals through the free Learning Series provided to each finalist. By meeting with these subject matter experts, Rachel was able to create contracts for potential clients, budget her business finances and also think outside of the box in terms of building her business. For first-time entrepreneurs considering submitting a BALSA grant application her advice is “Nothing is stopping you from applying. If you have an idea, you should do it. Start putting yourself out there, apply for different competitions and different grants because you cannot work in a silo.” In addition, Rachel also advises to “validate that you are solving a problem and that there is a need you are fulfilling”. In summary, Rachel expresses that the BALSA Foundation has been instrumental in the growth of her and her business and that “the foundation that BALSA provides kind of catapults you into doing what you thought you were not capable of doing.”

Madeline Jackson, was a Spring 2017 BALSA Grant Finalist and the founder of NanaComb, the wonderfully new way to care for naturally kinky, curly and coily hair! When Madeline won the BALSA Grant, she just had a vision and the idea to create the NanaComb. Since being a BALSA Grant Finalist, Madeline has been able to develop a final prototype through a design company, create a website for her company where she sells the NanaComb and also secure a patent for the NanaComb. Madeline expressed that the $1,000 cash grant was very helpful but more than importantly, the in-kind services were really key to helping her build her business.

“I would have gotten discouraged a lot long time ago if I did not have people I could talk to.” Madeline expresses that the Learning Series, the contacts and in-kind donations provided for BALSA Finalists have been invaluable to her. She was able to speak with an accountant, a lawyer and other subject matter experts who were able to assist her with certain parts her business. In addition to meeting with subject matter experts, Madeline mentioned that meeting with other BALSA Grant Finalists and bouncing off ideas off each other has been very important and useful for her.

When asked how being a BALSA Finalist has impacted her community, Madeline conveys that she is glad she can be an inspiration to her children, grand-children and other family members. Her grand-daughters often help her during trade shows by doing product demonstrations and accepting payments from customers. Madeline notes “I want my grand-daughters to know that whatever I can do, they can do. They can use me as an example and I feel more equipped to help them with the things that I have learned.”Madeline summarized her experience with the BALSA Foundation as meaningful and impactful. The number of things she has learned and people she has met since becoming a BALSA Finalist has allowed her to take NanaComb to the next level.