Project Karibu Kazi

To close the wealth gap by supporting BIPOC budding entrepreneurs.  We're creating an ecosystem using the age old job sharing concept and connecting Accelerators & Incubators with Job Sharing Experts, Employers and Employees to create income generating opportunities for BIPOC entrepreneurs as they launch their businesses.  This solution will give opportunity to BIPOC budding entrepreneurs who are most likely to not have funding for day to day living while they pursue their dream of becoming entrepreneurs.

Wealth inequality in the United States is abysmal. The lack of intergenerational wealth hinders most BIPOC from becoming entrepreneurs because they do not have that first level of investment that mostly comes from friends & family.  The reason they do not have this first level support from friends & family is due to public policies, implicit and explicit, starting from slavery to Jim Crow, redlining to school segregation, mass incarceration to systemic racism that hindered building of intergenerational wealth for BIPOC families.  Latino, certain Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), Black households wealth falls far below their white counterparts. Hispanic families median wealth in 2016 was $17,600 and $20,700 for Black families, compared to white families who had $171,000.* All these contribute to systemic inequality that keeps the American Dream out of reach for BIPOC  families.  What we are doing is to try and bridge the gap by providing BIPOC budding entrepreneurs with stable income and support while they build their businesses. *American Progress Source

We're creating an ecosystem which creates collaboration between Partners, Job Sharing Experts, Employer and Employees to ensure that BIPOC entrepreneurs have continued income as they work with Accelerators.  Partners include Accelerators, Incubators, Community Partners (urban & rural), and they will help identify budding entrepreneurs interested in job sharing. Job Sharing Experts will work directly with Project Karibu Kazi and Employers to implement job sharing programs. Interested Employers get expert help at reduced cost as well as retaining motivated employees who may want to go part time (think the working moms dropping off at a very high rate, HBR reported 860,000 in the US in September 2020 alone!*, Harvard Business Review source). Lastly, Employees who are mainly BIPOC get financial security together with the existing employees in the organization who want to job share to stay in the market and keep earning an income too.  

Our target population is BIPOC entrepreneurs who are working on launching their businesses. We personally represent this demographic, having launched our own businesses while struggling to maintain an income to support ourselves and our families. And because of that struggle, it takes BIPOC twice the time, effort and stress to get their businesses going, with most dropping out before then because of the strain.  

Creating ongoing income while launching a viable business idea is the missing type of support BIPOC entrepreneurs need. Currently Accelerators and Incubators help with knowledge and connection and some help with financing, but then expect entrepreneurs to be full-time on this business which just isn't possible for a lot of people. Health benefits, child care, elder care, transportation costs these are they types of trade-offs BIPOC entrepreneurs have to consider but without the systemic support that other groups have. This is why we want to bridge the gap and de-risk entrepreneurship and actually support BIPOC in the ways that they need it. 

Our focus on BIPOC entrepreneurs is directly inline with 1st dimension of the challenge. 

Through our program entrepreneurs will attain knowledge by working with Partners as well as through their work experience gained in the job share opportunities. The networks created through the job share opportunities can also be leveraged once they launch their business. Sustainable jobs and livelihoods are not always in the traditional route of employment and supporting entrepreneurs is part of this journey to create intergenerational wealth.  

This program will help BIPOC entrepreneurs break out of the systemic oppression by taking control of their own destiny.

Wangari Kamau, Part time, 

Brittany Canty, Part time

When thinking about hiring, employee engagement and retention we focus on the objectives that we're trying to solve for, the activities of a position and the experience that we want to cultivate. We focus on the person and their ability to get the job done rather than pedigree.

We also make sure expectation and process are documented and explained. Regardless of background we want to make sure everyone has a shared language and the ability to succeed. 

Lastly to ensure Equity, we also examine data, in all aspects. Ex. what the distribution of our candidate pool is, who do we end up hiring - to make sure that we're being equitable in all avenues and providing the proper support at the right time. 

While Opportunity to work, https://opportunityatwork.org/ is in the same space to create economic opportunity through employment for non traditionally educated people who have acquired skills through life experience.  The focus is job placement while Project Karibu Kazi's focus is "job sharing" while journeying to entrepreneurship.  Project Karibu Kazi is an ecosystem that enables key stakeholders from Incubators, Accelerators, job sharing partners to potential entrepreneurs and hiring organizations to come together in a dynamic space that supports the BIPOC entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

Project Karibu Kazi as an ecosystem will create a place for collaboration with stakeholders (Partners, Job Share Experts, Employers, Employees or budding Entrepreneurs).  Eliminate the challenge of the lack of intergenerational wealth by creating job sharing opportunities for BIPOC budding entrepreneurs to work on achieving the "American Dream" by becoming business owners.  Initial discussions are underway with potential pilot partners to identify entrepreneurs and job sharing experts to create partnerships with organizations.

Collaboration is the key for Project Karibu Kazi.  By continually engaging with stakeholders (Partners, Job Share Experts, Employers, Employees or budding Entrepreneurs) the goal is to at least target 5-10 BIPOC budding entrepreneurs in 2020.  Over the next 5 years we want to scale to working with 100,000 entrepreneurs and supporting their path to entrepreneurship. 

The main barrier to impact is finding like minded stakeholders (Partners, Job Share Experts, Employers) who want to truly share in dismantling systemic barriers that have previously existed for BIPOC.  For employers this will be a win win to address DEI in their organizations and also to increase the supplier diversity from the cohort of budding Entrepreneurs who are potiential business owners.

It is important to tell this story in historical context so that those stakeholders who engage understand the root cause of this issue.  Understanding the past makes us more likely to act in the present when we know the WHY. 

• The number of entrepreneurs that have participated in the program
• The number of entrepreneurs that have been able to transition full-time into their businesses
• The number of accelerators we partner with
• The number of employers we partner with
• The number of new job-sharing opportunities that we've enabled

Time is Now is an LLC https://www.thetimeisnow.co/, that is committed to doing DEI work that is data driven and shows tangible results.  Brittany Canty the owner is working in partnership with Wangari Kamau who is equally committed to DEI and has worked in the global space creating people development programs for an international organization.

We have both bring both national and international expertise where we embed DEI in all that we do, from product design to talent management.  Additionally we are both entrepreneurs who understand the journey of the lack of intergenerational wealth as we both had to put our dreams on hold for a long time before we could  "step out" and pilot our ideas. 

We are in discussions with TEDCO in Maryland as a source of potential partners, i.e. incubators, accelerators etc. For Job sharing we are also in discussions with WorkMuse.  Mainly in exploratory stages and making good traction though nothing is signed on yet.

The ecosystem provided by Project Karibu Kazi will create job sharing opportunities for BIPOC entrepreneurs as they pursue their dream to being business owners.  The continued income from job sharing will help address the gap that is created by the lack of intergenerational wealth which prevents BIPOC from becoming entrepreneurs.

The intent is to create an ecosystem where membership fees and/or success fees will be the backbone for the funding.

As we expand we'd seek funding to expand our team as well as build out a platform to help automate a lot of our activities.

~$100,000 for salaries for 2-3 people

~$50,000 for miscellaneous costs (Legal, Marketing activities, Website/Platform costs, etc)

This opportunity to reimagine pathways to employment is a great challenge to think outside the box. Employment is not just defined in the traditional sense, i.e. working in an organization.  Self employment is also a way to be employed with more autonomy and a way to create intergenerational wealth.  

The expertise we both bring looks at proven methodologies and applies them to the entrepreneur space, to create user and data driven experiences with lasting and systemic impact.

Our idea has great potential and partners will help us sharpen and shape a model that is scalable and has ability to be replicated to benefit more BIPOC entrepreneurs both nationally and internationally.

Partner with a cohort of graduate students in an entrepreneurship program as their ideas would be unencumbered.  Organizations that are in the job share space to share their best practices and also leverage their expertise, other organizations who support BIPOC entrepreneurs as a source for potential job share candidates.