Village Micro Fund
Bi-annually, we select 10-15 entrepreneurs and enroll them into a 15-week training program that centers four critical resources: education, one-on-one consulting, networking, and capital. We co-program with churches, schools, civic organizations, and other grassroots groups to ensure that our entrepreneurs engage no less than 500 people in the community they intend to serve. This allows cohort members to develop a strong network of supporters and key stakeholders that can support their efforts and help them to better understand the needs of their desired consumer base. Our goal is to produce technically sound businesses with profitable business models that can afford to hire and create wealth building job opportunities for people in the communities they serve. Businesses are selected from a criterion of perceived neighborhood demand, business model, our ability to help, invest-ability, and owner’s drive to champion the idea. Schools, Banks, Cities, and Foundations are our customers for our cohorts. At the end of the cohort we host a graduation and invite the people we have engaged throughout the 15 weeks to celebrate the businesses. Attendees can either connect a business to a customer or someone that can help propel the business forward or invest their own money into the business. The businesses are then illegible to be hosted on our crowdfunding platform.
Mission
The Village Micro Fund is a grassroots micro finance organization with the mission to create as much opportunity as there is genius by providing access to capital, business education, and a “Village” of support. Through small business training and community-based cooperative investing we are proving that under-resourced communities around the country can self-direct the development of their neighborhoods.
Storytelling
Keitra Bates launched Marddy’s Kitchen, a catering service and commercial kitchen for food entrepreneurs in Westside Atlanta, with a loan that Village Micro Fund (VMF) helped her secure from Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development agency, in 2018. VMF became a vital support system for Keitra in lending her $6,000 for her first enterprise, Westview Pizza Kitchen, and continuing to support her when she closed that business in 2016. She was able to develop the requisite business plan to the loan for Marddy’s Kitchen through our consulting.
Brandi Shelton, owner of Just Add Honey, an artisanal tea shop, was able to reach a second stage of growth after completing the fall 2019 cohort. "VMF trainers inspired me to dream big and gave me tools to grow Just Add Honey at a steady pace. They planted the seeds of franchising our operations, now we have two locations- one of which we are structuring as our franchise model. Above all, they saw greater potential in me than I saw in myself.”
Type of Organization
- Lending Organization
- Small Business Development Center
Locations Served
- Atlanta, Georgia
- Georgia
Key Programs and Initiatives
- Village Certified Program
Types of Offerings
- Financing
- Capital
- Entrepreneurial Training
- Matchmaking/networking opportunities
- 1 to 1 business advising
- Mentoring/coaching
- Business incubation
- Accelerator
Program Delivery
- Hybrid (in person/virtual)
Members of the Black Community Served
- Women
- Youth
- 65+/Senior Citizens
Locations of Members of the Black Community Served
- Low-income areas
- Low to moderate income areas
- Suburban areas
- Urban areas
Targeted Entrepreneur Segments
- Business Services
- Wholesale & Retail Trade
- Accommodation & Food Services
- Transportation & Logistics
- Technology & Software Development
Business Stage
- Stay Up : a business that has determined its market fit, but its product/service has not been validated nor has it achieved sustainability.
- Scale Up : a business that already validated its product in a market and has proven sustainable.
Cost of Programs
- Free