Pay it forward

Quote:


Here is their website.

http://www.risingtidecapital.org

Awesome! Way to put that education to work for the greater good.

BUSINESS CLASS
Two Harvard grads help low-income residents to start their own businesses

Monday, June 25, 2007
By BERNETTE PEARSON
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

They say a rising tide lifts all boats.

And what if the tide in an urban, low-income community was its residents?

Two 2003 Harvard graduates entertained the idea and formed Rising Tide Capital Inc., an organization in Jersey City that trains budding entrepreneurs from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to start their own businesses. The group also offers business consulting and helps participants find the capital needed to start their businesses.

Alfa Demmellash, 27, and Alex Forrester, 26, were inspired by the work of Muhammad Yunus, the Noble Peace Prize-winning creator of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. Yunus used the technique of microfinancing - lending money to owners of businesses with no more than five workers.

By giving money to people who were too poor to seek money elsewhere, Yunus found the investment in these businesses helped revitalize the economy in Bangladesh.

For Rising Tide, 70 percent of all grads have started some form of a business - from catering to party DJs - Forrester said.

"We are really pretty excited about it and it will continue to grow," he said. "Everybody wants to see that an area can be built from the inside within. By providing jobs for the communities, they are the heroes.

"They are the hopes of success," Forrester added.

Two graduates of the program are already making waves.

After serving his third jail sentence in 1995 for drug dealing, Gregory Wilkins, 36, decided to make a change. He joined the Nation of Islam and walked around Jersey City selling its books. He then tried opening a bookstore on Monticello Avenue; that failed, but he didn't give up.

With a friend, he started a new venture - a clothing store on Martin Luther King Drive called True Fashion. He's currently renovating the store and turning it into a T-shirt design and "urban" photo studio. He said it should be ready for business in a few weeks.

"There are plenty of times when I want to give up," said Wilkins, who is married and has four children. "But I can't do it. I came too far."

He said Rising Tide helped him gain the financial skills necessary to operate the business, such as bookkeeping.

Karrisell Lyons-Smart, 39, also of Jersey City, said she was content being a medical biller and coder, but was still looking for another career move.

"I always had something inside of me that said 'I want to start a business,'" she said.

She opened her store, K Spot Val-U Store, last month.

A new mom - her baby, Karrisell-Jane, was born 10 months ago - she said being a mother, wife and entrepreneur is not that hard for her.

"It really comes easy and naturally for me because I'm really rigid and organized," she said.

Lyons-Smart also said Rising Tide taught her technical skills and money management, and told her about alternative resources to get money to start up businesses. Rising Tide will be having a celebration for the store on Saturday.

She gave this advice for starting a business.

"It is going to take a lot of work and sacrifice, but it's the best feeling," she said. "If it is what you feel in your heart and gut, then just do it."