It’s easy to see the devastation the economic downturn has wrought on small businesses. Boarded-up restaurants, boutiques and motels litter highways and byways across the country.
And while launching a small business remains a challenging endeavor in good times as well as bad, Louisiana’s Microenterprise Development Program is trying to give budding entrepreneurs a boost while simultaneously tackling poverty.
So far, it has produced some successes despite the tough climate.
The program provides training, mentoring and grants to individuals in underserved parts of the state with the goals of enhancing personal and business development skills while creating owner-operated businesses that increase income and wealth through self-employment. Eligibility requirements include at least one minor child in the household as well as a family income that is no more than 200% of the federal poverty level.
The program is funded by the Department of Social Services and is managed by Louisiana Economic Development. Drew Murray, who negotiates the scope of work and budget for the program and also develops LED’s yearly contract and monitors the program to make sure it complies with federal standards, says there have been similar programs across the state since the late 1990s. But the current one brings many of those providers under one umbrella.
Microenterprise receives a block grant from Louisiana’s Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, which was created in the reform of the federal welfare system that limited cash assistance.
“The portion of TANF no longer going to cash assistance was redirected to support programs that help needy families achieve financial self-sufficiency and states have a great deal of flexibility in what programs they support with TANF,” Murray says.
Microenterprise is one of those programs. Outreach to potential entrepreneurs is purposely targeted because of its eligibility limits, Murray says, adding that presentations by LED and local training providers to community groups, nonprofits and churches have been effective for recruitment.
“The justification we see for the program is that given the right type of training and support, it is possible for low-income families to become self-sufficient through entrepreneurship,” says Murray, who is DSS’ director of Solutions to Poverty.
But it could also be a lot more than that.
The program has resulted in 434 businesses to date, says its coordinator, Ruth Admal. The companies generally are home-based and encompass a wide range—from day care to landscape companies, notaries, tax preparation services, travel agents, event planners, caterers, beauticians and personal trainers.
One such business is Christina Smith’s SOZO, a natural healing company in which she assesses client needs and then recommends herbs, minerals and lifestyle changes for optimum health. [“Sozo” is a Greek word meaning to be redeemed in body, mind and spirit, she explains.]
Smith launched the business in 2007 after graduating from Yamuni Institute of Healing Arts. She is a doctor of natural medicines and operates part-time by appointment from her home.
Smith uses lab analysis along with modalities like nutritional assessment, iridology, muscle response testing and health history to make her determinations. She looks at the functioning of the body instead of disease. An initial consultation takes about 90 minutes. In a subsequent visit, she explains what she has found along with the solution program for that particular individual.
“By correcting the cause, the problem will correct itself,” Smith says. This applies to everyday problems like acne, warts and even sleeping issues.
“Have you ever wondered why two people who have the same condition do the same thing, and one gets better and one doesn’t? Have you ever wondered why two people live in the same house, eat the same things and one gets cancer and one doesn’t?” she asks. “We all have individual body chemistry, and that chemistry, along with internal and external influences, determines the functioning of that body.”
Smith describes her business as a proactive approach to health, and she says many of her clients have become healthier after gaining the knowledge they need.
And even though she has yet to cash a paycheck from her business and to date has only treated people she knows [or who know people she knows], natural healing is clearly her passion and one that is coming to fruition. She hopes to operate full-time in an office outside her home in six months.
Her interest in natural healing originated when she became sick after chemical exposure at work in 2001. When a doctor said narcotics—which made it difficult for her to work and to care for her family—were the only answer, she began looking for another way. That’s when she started coming across natural health products. After a 30-day cleanse from a health food store helped solve some of her problems, Smith became a believer in the power of natural healing.
“I remember telling God, ‘People have to know about this; they have to know there’s another way,’” she says. “Natural health and helping people is my passion. I absolutely could eat, sleep and drink it.”
Smith was able to complete her business plan thanks to software made available to her through the Microenterprise program. She found the program after seeking funds to help grow her nascent business. Then, every Saturday for four months, she attended business development classes.
“It was not that it was hard, but it was almost a test of dedication—and all very worth the effort,” she says. Even when a particular class covered a topic with which she was already familiar, it reaffirmed what she was doing.
What’s more, the funds she eventually received had to be carefully accounted for in her business plan and everything had to be approved. This, she says, “is great to help people who really need the help and want to use the money for what it’s intended for.”
The instructors and other participants were also very helpful, she says, and it was uplifting to help her classmates shape their dreams while they, in turn, helped shape hers.
“We got to see each others’ dreams becoming a reality, at least on paper,” Smith says. “It starts with having a dream, but when you see it is actually possible, plausible and profitable, you’re screaming inside, ‘I get to have my dream.’”
And Smith isn’t the only success story.
Shenikewa Peterson, Microenterprise’s 2007 entrepreneur of the year, launched her business, Flawless Creations Airbrush Makeup, and saw an estimated $50,000 to $55,000 in revenue in her first year.
Peterson has always been interested in beauty and has always wanted to start her own business—and the program taught her how to do just that.
“My grandmother took me to the beauty salon with her every weekend. I would sit and watch every move and go home and mimic it on my dolls,” she says. “I knew then that I liked the confidence women would have after they came out of the beauty salon.”
She began her career as a cosmetologist and makeup artist at several salons and was recruited to work with music artists, photographers and movie producers in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. From there, she recognized a growing trend among brides using airbrush makeup and found there was an unmet need in Louisiana. Thus, Flawless Creations was born.
And while Peterson admits one of the toughest things about being her own boss is that she has to constantly market her company, she also says she has been truly blessed to work on photo shoots and production sets and with brides on their big day.
“Imagine that,” she says, “a job where I get to have fun all day and be creative.”
