Proximity

Proximity is your tool, designed exclusively for Black founders and business owners, igniting your journey to success. It’s your personalized growth platform, where opportunities meet community.

What Is Proximity?
Proximity is a cutting-edge app connecting you with a supportive network of peers, resources, and insights, tailored to your unique needs as a Black entrepreneur.

What It Does:
It’s your strategic partner, offering curated resources for skill-building, funding, and business expansion. Proximity's vibrant community lets you engage with experienced mentors, and modules fostering invaluable connections and collaborations. Our app also streamlines development, simplifying diverse employee management, while data-driven insights for optimum impact.

How It Works:

Proximity’s tech stack gathers your preferences and needs to deliver personalized recommendations. User-friendly tools enable seamless resource access, mentorship matchmaking, and performance tracking. Our intuitive interface makes networking and learning a breeze, empowering you to shape your business & career journey.

Human-Centered Design:
Every feature of Proximity is crafted with our members in mind. User feedback is our compass, driving continuous enhancements and ensuring Proximity remains a valuable asset on your road to prosperity.

Proximity is your growth engine, bringing tailored resources, a vibrant network, and smart insights under one roof.

Proximity, our innovative solution, seamlessly integrates cutting-edge technologies like Mighty Network, Salesforce NPSP, and Salesforce Account Engagement, amplifying support for Black entrepreneurs.

Technology Integration:

Proximity is powered by Mighty Network, providing a robust social platform for our vibrant community. Salesforce NPSP, combined with Salesforce Account Engagement, forms the backbone for data management and user engagement, ensuring a personalized and impactful experience.

Data-Driven Personalization:

Our competency model assessments and surveys form the bedrock of Proximity's future smart algorithms. These assessments, mapping users' strengths across competencies like Decision-Making, Leadership, and Teaming, drive data-driven personalization. This synergy between user data and smart algorithms refines resource suggestions, empowering users on their unique entrepreneurial journey.

User-Centric Resource Allocation:

Proximity's technology stack will interpret our competency assessments, guiding users to resources that align with their strengths. Making Decisions & Analyzing Information, Influencing & Leadership, Teaming with Others, Responsibility, and Managing Work & Others are the pillars that steer our resource allocation. For instance, if a user excels in Teaming, they'll receive tailored content to enhance their teamwork skills.

Traditional Wisdom Meets Digital Innovation:

Proximity's integration of traditional, ancestral, and natural technologies ensures a holistic approach to founder development. As users engage with resources linked to their competencies, the platform bridges modern insights with timeless wisdom, creating a dynamic learning experience.

Agile Scalability and Enhancement:

Mighty Network's adaptable architecture, coupled with Salesforce's robust capabilities, equips Proximity to scale effortlessly. As our user base grows, so does the accuracy and relevance of resource suggestions, fostering an ever-evolving ecosystem.

Proximity's beta core lies in synergizing Mighty Network's social platform prowess and Salesforce's data management capabilities. Our competency-based model, fueled by user assessments, crafts an enriched user journey where technology not only supports but actively empowers Black entrepreneurs.

Proximity is unwavering in its mission to confront and rectify entrenched systemic inequalities disproportionately affecting the Black community. For many Black individuals, access to essential healthcare and education remains elusive, fostering health disparities.

The imminent transformation of the workforce, as anticipated by the World Economic Forum, presents both opportunities and challenges. AI-driven automation jeopardizes jobs historically held by the Black and brown community, amplifying poverty and endangering the projected decline of the Black Wealth Median by 2053. The undeniable racial wealth gap, underscored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, magnifies the necessity of bridging this chasm.

Proximity's innovation uniquely addresses these urgencies. By empowering Black professionals with customized resources, mentorship, and competency-based insights, we dismantle systemic barriers perpetuating health and economic disparities. Our vibrant community embraces 700+ members, a diverse tapestry comprising 59.8% women, 23.5% men, and 16.7% gender nonconforming or nonbinary individuals. Rooted primarily in the Greater Kansas City Metro Area, our community fosters localized impact, nurturing connections, collaborations, and collective growth. As a nurturing space for dialogue, resource sharing, and mentorship, Proximity propels Black professionals into a future illuminated by resilience, empowerment, and unity.

Proximity's innovative solution closely aligns with the Truist Foundation Inspire Awards challenge, which seeks transformative technology-based approaches to enhance small business resiliency and sustainability in the face of economic uncertainties. As the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a surge in entrepreneurship, Proximity responds to the challenge by focusing on supporting Black professionals and entrepreneurs, a population historically underserved.

Our solution targets financial readiness, employee advancement, and data-driven impact, all key dimensions outlined in the challenge. By offering personalized competency model assessments and surveys, Proximity helps Black professionals navigate career advancement, upskilling, and financial literacy, directly addressing the challenge's focus on employee career pathways and founder readiness.

Proximity leverages technology, to capture, synthesize, and optimize data for pathway intelligence. This aligns with the challenge's emphasis on utilizing technology to enhance data-driven decision-making and impact evaluation.

Our community's demographics directly reflect the challenge's commitment to supporting underrepresented groups in small business development. Rooted primarily in the Greater Kansas City Metro Area, we foster localized impact and collaboration, echoing the challenge's focus on transformative solutions that strengthen the small business community.

Proximity's technology-driven approach, coupled with our commitment to uplifting marginalized communities, tightly aligns with the Truist Foundation Inspire Awards challenge. We not only address the outlined dimensions but also contribute to the challenge's broader goal of fostering small business resiliency through innovative solutions.

Proximity's Theory of Change for Empowering Black Professionals and Founders:

1. Customized Empowerment: Proximity offers tailored competency assessments and surveys to Black professionals and founders, identifying their unique strengths and growth areas.

2. Personalized Resource Allocation: Insights from assessments guide Proximity in suggesting personalized resources, unlocking relevant opportunities for career advancement and entrepreneurial skill development.

3. Skill Enhancement: Black professionals and founders engage with recommended resources, acquiring new skills aligned with their career goals and business needs.

4. Increased Employability and Business Viability: Enhanced skills and competencies make Black professionals more competitive in the job market and boost the viability of Black-founded businesses.

5. Career Advancement: Improved employability leads to better job opportunities and promotions, while skill-enhanced founders drive business growth.

6. Wealth Generation: Career advancements and thriving businesses result in increased income and wealth accumulation for both professionals and founders.

7. Data-Driven Evolution: Continuous assessment and resource utilization data refine Proximity's recommendations, ensuring ongoing relevance and effectiveness.

8. Long-Term Impact: As Black professionals achieve higher positions and accumulate wealth, and as Black-founded businesses succeed and expand, the cycle of systemic inequities is disrupted, fostering a sustainable transformation.

Proximity's theory of change is reinforced by user testimonials showcasing improved employability, career progression, and business growth. Moreover, the research underscores the significance of personalized skill development and tailored career and business support in boosting job prospects, wage growth, and entrepreneurial success.

This solidifies Proximity's commitment to dismantling systemic barriers, championing the success of Black professionals and founders, and contributing to narrowing the racial wealth gap while fostering an ecosystem of thriving businesses.

At present, our solution is not directly impacting small businesses. In Q4, we anticipate extending our support to a cohort of 20 businesses as part of a pilot program. Over the subsequent five years, our ambition is to collaborate with 5 established entrepreneurial support organizations, each hosting annual business development cohorts with an average participation of 20 entrepreneurs. This expansion strategy aims to effectively and significantly serve a total of 100 small businesses within the five-year timeframe.

Our approach is underpinned by a commitment to targeted and meaningful impact. By engaging directly with entrepreneurs and small business owners, we aim to create a transformative ripple effect within their ventures. This growth trajectory aligns seamlessly with our mission to drive equitable opportunities and resources, enabling small businesses to thrive, adapt, and contribute to their communities economic vitality. Through this intentional journey, we aspire to foster lasting change, cultivate successful enterprises, and make a tangible difference in the lives of the entrepreneurs we serve.

Our community is composed of Black professionals, entrepreneurs, and small business owners seeking equitable opportunities and resources to overcome systemic barriers. Key stakeholders include investors, donors, local government officials, entrepreneurial support organizations, local community members, educational institutions, and corporate partners. Their collective engagement influences our organizational strategy.

Investors and donors are crucial for expanding our impact, while local government officials shape the business environment. Collaboration with entrepreneurial support organizations amplifies our reach. Engaged local community members foster a dynamic ecosystem, and educational institutions prepare future entrepreneurs. Corporate partners drive systemic change in diversity and inclusion. Input from board members, volunteers, program participants, and partners guides our strategy, ensuring relevance and effectiveness. This multi-faceted collaboration ensures that we meaningfully address the needs of our community and drive lasting positive change.

Black Excellence Inc builds trust through community-centered outreach, transparent communication, and meaningful engagement. We host local events, workshops, and panel discussions that address key issues facing Black professionals and entrepreneurs. Our approach involves active participation in community forums, collaborating with local Black-owned businesses, and partnering with established organizations like the local Chamers and Media outlets.

We prioritize in-person interactions and maintain an active online presence through social media and a user-friendly website. By showcasing success stories, sharing resources, and highlighting community achievements, we foster a sense of belonging and credibility. Our chosen methods emphasize authenticity, accessibility, and a focus on empowering individuals with relatable experiences. This approach ensures that we remain grounded in the community's needs and aspirations while nurturing an environment of trust and support.

Current Year Impact Goals (Year 1):

1. Pilot Success: Successfully pilot our solution with 20 small businesses, providing tailored resources and mentorship for growth.
2. Community Engagement: Cultivate an active community of 100 Black professionals and entrepreneurs within Proximity's platform.
3. Strategic Partnerships: Partner with two entrepreneurial support organizations, integrating our solution into their cohorts, impacting 40 participants.
4. Economic Empowerment: Aid 10 small businesses in achieving tangible growth, measured by increased revenue and job creation.

Next Five Years (Years 2-5) Impact Goals:
1. Scaled Participation: Scale through five annual partnerships, impacting 100 participants per year, totaling 500 participants.
2. National Reach: Extend Proximity's reach to serve Black professionals and entrepreneurs across U.S. cities.
3. Corporate Collaboration: Collaborate with 10 corporate partners to advance diversity and inclusion efforts.
4. Holistic Empowerment: Support 100 founders, driving economic growth and financial literacy.
5. Sustainability and Replication: Develop a replicable model to empower other communities.

Achievement Strategies:
1. Tailored Resources: Provide personalized resources and mentorship for essential skills.
2. Partnership Expansion: Forge strategic partnerships to amplify reach.
3. Community Engagement: Cultivate an engaged online community.
4. Data-Driven Insight*: Measure participants' growth for continuous improvement.
5. Advocacy and Collaboration: Collaborate with partners to influence systemic changes.

We are applying to the Truist Foundation Inspire Awards because the award's focus on innovative, tech-enabled solutions for small businesses deeply resonates with our approach to this work. Partnering with the Truist Foundation and MIT Solve could significantly enhance our ability to create a lasting impact.

Collaboration with the Truist Foundation and MIT Solve would offer us access to vital resources such as funding, mentorship, and technical support. This support would accelerate the development and implementation of our solution, enabling us to reach more small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Moreover, the endorsement and credibility associated with the Truist Foundation and MIT Solve would amplify our reputation and attract more stakeholders to our cause. Their expertise and guidance would help us refine our strategy, navigate challenges, and maximize our potential for growth.

The expansive network of experts, mentors, and potential collaborators that the Truist Foundation and MIT Solve offer would open doors to valuable partnerships and collaborations. This network-driven approach aligns with our goal of creating a thriving ecosystem for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

In the realm of Legal or Regulatory Matters, we are seeking partners who can provide legal expertise and guidance as we navigate complex regulatory environments. Support in contract drafting, compliance, and intellectual property rights is crucial to ensure that our solution aligns with legal standards and protects our organization and users.

For Monitoring & Evaluation, we aim to collaborate with experts who can assist us in designing robust data collection methods and impact assessment frameworks. Partnerships in this area would help us gather meaningful data, measure our solution's effectiveness, and continuously improve our approach based on evidence.

In the field of Technology, we are seeking support in web development, software integration, and data analysis. Collaborations with tech-savvy partners would aid in optimizing our platform's functionality, ensuring seamless user experiences, and harnessing data insights to enhance our impact.