MKE BOSS

In the U.S., there are millions of aspiring and current Black and Brown entrepreneurs, including more than 500,000 Black- and Brown-owned employer businesses that generate annual sales of over 600 billion dollars and employ over 4 million people (2021 Annual Business Survey by the Census Bureau). However, they face disproportionate barriers in accessing financial services. Black- and Brown-owned small businesses are about twice as likely as white-owned small businesses to be denied loans, lines of credit, and cash advances (2021 Small Business Credit Survey by the 12 Federal Reserve Banks). We set out to address this problem starting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin–one of the most racially segregated cities in the U.S.

To understand what underlies this problem which holds Black and Brown small business entrepreneurs back from being able to grow their businesses and build wealth, we listened deeply to the Black and Brown entrepreneurs and the service organizations, including financial institutions, in the local community. 

Our human-centered design research identified three key insights that must be addressed for real change. First, quality of delivery is more important than quantity. Service organizations currently offer a plethora of services, resources, and programs; however, local entrepreneurs have a hard time navigating the existing disparate systems and finding the specific help they need. In addition, the current practice of service providers referring entrepreneurs to other providers frequently results in loss of trust, service delays, or a complete lack of service delivery as any current tracking or accountability mechanisms in place are informal and ill-defined. Second, funding in isolation does not create equity. When these entrepreneurs do seek financial resources they often face barriers in the form of prerequisite business experience, credit history, or education. While credit-worthiness is one metric to assess MSME fitness for a loan, ultimately, it is not the only method. One's cash flow, track record, projections, and other factors can also qualify one for the funding needed to succeed as an entrepreneur. What's often missing from that equation for Black and Brown entrepreneurs, however, is exposure to information that can dispel hopelessness. Many entrepreneurs are not aware of these prerequisites and are still building these experiences and skills. Third, the meaning of support needs to be expanded. Irrespective of their journey, entrepreneurs also reported a lack of structure and direction when dealing with service providers. They lack the relationships with stakeholders who can help them work through their unique situation. 

These three key insights guided our reimagination of how Black and Brown small business entrepreneurs in Milwaukee could access capital and technical assistance, and ultimately have the ability to take risks and build wealth. How might we streamline the process for them in a way that builds trust with the service providers and increases personalization, capacity building, and clarity?

MKE BOSS is a one-stop-shop for Milwaukee’s entrepreneurs of color to connect with resources needed to build, operate, scale, and sustain their small businesses. It provides entrepreneurs of color with the educational resources needed to advance, and access to trusted service providers who can help them navigate their specific situation.

The digital platform is two-sided. On the entrepreneurs’ side, they simply complete a short assessment about themselves, their business, and their needs to be algorithmically matched to specific services. Entrepreneurs then have the power to choose which services to engage with and, when necessary, will be contacted by the provider of the selected services. On the service providers’ side, they use the platform to receive, manage, and refer leads that come in from the entrepreneur side of the platform or other service providers. They also use the platform to upload and manage the services that are offered to the entrepreneurs.

The MKE BOSS platform seeks to improve the access and success of entrepreneurs by broadening the number and diversity of available services, increasing the awareness of available services known to entrepreneurs and service providers, matching entrepreneurs with the right services needed for their specific situation, facilitating connections between entrepreneurs and service providers, facilitating the transfer of clients between service providers, and tracking the status and progress of entrepreneur clients.

The MKE BOSS platform is designed to help Black and Brown small business entrepreneurs build, operate, scale, and sustain their businesses by improving their access and facilitating their connection to the specific services and resources–be it lending, classes, events, or others–offered by local services providers. 

The platform is unique, in that it offers tailored matching to each entrepreneur, ensuring they have exactly what they need for their specific business needs. Further, it closes the information gap that many entrepreneurs of color encounter when they don’t personally know people who have built a business of the size or stability that they’re envisioning. This platform gives them direct connection to those who can help them break through those information barriers to better their lives.

Improving access to capital, technical assistance, and other resources crucial to the success of Black and Brown entrepreneurs can reestablish trust between communities and service organizations, increase the viability of Black and Brown-owned small businesses, promote Black and Brown employment, and boost wealth generation in these communities.

DC Design is a highly diverse design consulting firm composed of social impact researchers, strategists, and designers that represent a broad array of lived experience across personal identity and professional backgrounds. Specific to this challenge, our team includes BIPOC designers, some of whom have entrepreneurship backgrounds and lived in Milwaukee. 

In addition to these lived experiences, we specialize in using human-centered design to empathize across multiple stakeholder segments and co-design solutions with those who are most impacted by a problem and those with power to influence its success. Specific to this solution, we have a close partnership with established community organizations, including three catalyzing CDFI partners –Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation, Northwest Side CDC, and Self-Help Credit Union– and our team has directly gathered community needs through in-person convening, interviews, and video engagements, and community input through prototyping and testing the MKE BOSS platform with entrepreneurs and service provider staff members.

As consultants, we have partnered and continue to partner with local governments, organizations, institutions, communities, and leaders to leverage their knowledge, expertise and relationships in ways that promote solution adoption and sustainability. Additionally, our position as consultants allows us to take learnings and relationships from other projects, regions, and stakeholders and apply them to this solution and vice-versa, a key advantage in our ability to scale.

Our solution has been researched, designed, and tested at progressing levels of fidelity beginning with digital sketches and most recently with clickable prototypes. Each of these levels has been tested with real stakeholders who will be using the solution once it launches. The launch of the live platform, which will place us in what Solve defines as the pilot phase, is scheduled for Q3 of 2023.

Zero as the platform will be live in Q3 of 2023.

We are particularly in need of technical and financial support to pilot and scale our solution. Based on the research we have done with the communities and other stakeholders we serve, a highly technical solution that utilizes elements of AI and social media could prove to be an enormous value in supporting and amplifying the current social networks and behaviors of those stakeholders. We hope Solve partners would be able to provide connections to talent needed to build these features, guidance on their implementation of these features, and the financing to accomplish the above. 

In addition, we would appreciate PR support to extend the solution’s branding and marketing capacity to reach a national audience of entrepreneurs. We would also like to leverage Solve’s network to connect with additional institutional partners.

In further consideration of sustainability, we would appreciate business model support particularly in terms of guidance on revenue generation models, as well as human capital support to find additional talents to manage the platform and execute on user and partner recruitment.

Our solution transforms accessing financial and technical services from hassles that feel isolating to a one-stop-shop that feels supportive and personalized. Before, entrepreneurs of color were on their own to navigate disparate processes from individual service providers– each process complicated and time-consuming. Now with our solution, entrepreneurs of color just need to partake in one simple process to be connected with services that are relevant and valuable to them among the multitude of offerings across service providers.  

Our solution reimagines financial inclusion as a community endeavor. Rather than working with individual service providers to change their respective processes, our solution brings individual service providers into a network. By creating a network, our solution promotes transparency, collaboration, and reduced bias. By connecting borrowers to a range of service providers, most of whom cater specifically to Black and brown business owners, entrepreneurs gain a network of supporters who can help them find alternative paths toward success in their business.

In addition, this network model enables our solution to catalyze change at a larger scale. New entrepreneurs and service providers can easily be added to the respective networks to leverage our solution. The infrastructure our solution has created also has the potential to scale, being adapted for other communities beyond Milwaukee. 

Our solution utilizes elements of existing technologies in new ways. There are a number of assessments that match individuals to financial services or products, portals that provide certain education, and CRMs that help organizations track their own clientele. Our solution combines the best of those technologies into a digital ecosystem that connects communities stakeholders in a way that efficiently maximizes collaboration and available resources.

Entrepreneurs of color are able to secure a financial future for themselves and their families and to extend that to their community by providing employment opportunities and increased, community-centered production of goods and services.

In one year: We will launch the live platform with all the Community Development Financial Institutions in Milwaukee. We are aiming for an adoption of the platform by 10 financial institutions and service providers and for 150 entrepreneurs of color to access the technical and financial services they need. 

In five years: We aim to expand the platform to have representation in 5~10 states. 
 
We plan to work through existing partners and utilize their networks and presence in additional states, incorporate qualitative and quantitative assessment mechanisms to track our growth and impact, recruit additional entrepreneurs through community-based organization and advertisement, and continue to build the technical infrastructure to support additional users.

We measure progress toward impact goals by monitoring the a number of key factors for each of the stakeholder our platform brings together: 

From Entrepreneur 

• How many entrepreneurs went through the wizard

• How many were assigned to CDFI for financial help

• How many entrepreneurs were referred after recommendation

• Of those referred, how many times they were referred

• How many times did an entrepreneur get referred to an external partner

From CDFI’s

• How many entrepreneurs are in each stage of each process

• Main reason for referrals

• Partner who referred the most

• Partner who received the most referrals

Google Analytics to monitor regular website traffic, such as:

• Clicks

• Channels that drive traffic

• Page views

• User region

• Popular Pages

• Time spend on the website

We will also be tracking larger macro-level numbers. The growth in the number of entrepreneurs using the platform, the number of service providers who have joined the ecosystem and the number of states and cities this platform has been deployed to, and the % BIPOC entrepreneurs able to access financial and technical services, the dollar amount invested in BIPOC entrepreneurs in Milwaukee and other relevant communities, the BIPOC small business revenue growth in markets where this technology has been deployed.

Activities: Refine and pilot platform; Recruit additional BIPOC entrepreneurs; Recruit additional service organizations; Update platform with new resources provided by the service organizations; Maintain platform

Outputs: BIPOC entrepreneurs identify specific resources relevant and valuable to them; Service providers connect with potential BIPOC clientele

Short term outcomes: BIPOC entrepreneurs receive technical assistance, training through educational resources, and/or financial capital; BIPOC entrepreneurs build financial and business knowledge and skills; Service providers gain new BIPOC clientele

Long term outcomes: BIPOC entrepreneurs launch, sustain, and grow their businesses; BIPOC communities build wealth through increased, community-specific production of goods and services and the hiring in communities of color; Increased trust between communities and service providers leads to better long term outcomes. 

We leverage an algorithm to score responses to a digital assessment and sort recommendations based on those responses. This data feeds into a portal that entrepreneurs will be able to use to view their own and edit their own information and view and engage with services of their choice. Service providers will receive leads generated through this portal via a CRM that they will also be able to use to manage leads and refer them to other providers.

DC Design is a highly diverse organization. At an employee level, each member of our team identifies as a member of at least one historically marginalized group. At the company level, DC Design aims to create an America where all communities are fortified, self-determinant, and prosperous. We work exclusively to solve problems in what we call the Five Systems of Black Inequality: housing, education, economic prosperity, healthcare, and criminal justice.

Our solution will accumulate a number of assets of interest to various stakeholders. Black and Brown small business entrepreneurs will use the platform to more easily connect with a range of  financial services (loans) and technical assistance (education, consulting, etc.).

Currently, there are no formal, streamlined, or effective means for them to understand what services are available, what services might need, or who can provide those services. Our solution provides that information in a simple and effective manner to remove energy barriers and time sinks for them.

Service providers, especially those who cater to diverse or under-resourced populations, will be incentivized to use our solution to find new and promising clients who are seeking the specific services being provided. Service providers also get a way to establish new relationships with other providers in their communities, opening up opportunities for new partnerships.

Currently, the project has received grant funding from JP Morgan Chase. We plan to use the pilot to prove the viability of the solution and request funding from additional funders. Once the solution proves to be effective and its user base has grown, we will begin implementing revenue generating models.

Models under consideration include charging service providers for access to the platform, a related freemium model where providers receive basic features for free and premium features for an additional cost, taking a percentage of paid services offered on the platform, and selling access to platform users who opt into being included on a vendor list.

The project has had two successful rounds of funding from JP Morgan Chase with high optimism of additional funding following the launch of the pilot.