Entrepreneurship
Center
Empowering Communities. Changing Lives.
Building Towards a Life of Stability and Growth Through Entrepreneurship
The Entrepreneurship Center (EC) was created for the sole purpose of empowering, mentoring, and supporting our cohort of entrepreneurs, particularly entrepreneurs of color, in gaining the wisdom, knowledge, and skills to become self-sufficient and triumphant business owners by providing the foundation necessary to create successful enterprises.
By providing the resources to under-resourced entrepreneurs, we can provide the pathway towards increasing the economic health of communities in need of revitalization and redevelopment.
Core Programs
SBU
Small Business Development University (SBU)
Starting a business involves navigating many complex elements—securing funding, identifying investors, building the right networks, and more. These challenges often prevent aspiring entrepreneurs from achieving financial independence, especially entrepreneurs of color who face additional systemic barriers.
At the Houston Area Urban League, we are committed to eliminating as many of these obstacles as possible. Our Small Business Development University (SBU) is designed to support both current and aspiring entrepreneurs by equipping them with the tools needed to build and operate successful enterprises. We recognize how challenging it can be to access the resources and knowledge necessary to launch a business, and SBU exists to turn entrepreneurial dreams into reality.
SBU offers a comprehensive curriculum focused on delivering essential management skills that foster long-term success. Developed by a cohort of experienced business leaders, subject-matter experts, and dedicated community partners, the program provides practical, high-impact training. Key areas of instruction include Strategic Marketing and Digital Strategy, Financial Management and Tax Accounting, Venture Financing, Business Planning, and Business Development.
Through SBU, we are helping to build a more inclusive and thriving business landscape one entrepreneur at a time.
Discover More and Sign Up for SBU Today.
SBA CNPP
SBA Community Navigator Pilot Program
The Community Navigator Pilot Program (CNPP) focuses on reaching and supporting underserved small businesses, including micro and rural businesses, with emphasis on those owned by women, veterans, and socially and economically disadvantaged individuals to help them recover from the effects of COVID-19.
Recovery services include financial assistance, access to capital, contracting and procurement assistance, marketing, operations, business development, export, and industry-specific training. The Program will operate on a national scale using NUL as the Hub administering and supporting the program, partnered with Urban League (UL) affiliates in 25 cities serving as Spokes delivering counseling, training, and technical assistance to small businesses in each city.
Black Restaurant Accelerator
Our One-on-One Consulting program offers personalized mentorship and strategic guidance to business owners seeking direction, motivation, and practical resources to grow their enterprises. Each entrepreneur is paired with a seasoned business mentor who provides focused, actionable advice tailored to their specific goals and challenges. This targeted approach ensures that participants receive only the most relevant insights to support their business journey. Our mentors are subject-matter experts with decades of entrepreneurial success. They provide enrollees with the confidence, determination, and mindset needed to achieve long-term growth and sustainability.
One-on-One Consulting
Our One-on-One Consulting program offers personalized mentorship and strategic guidance to business owners seeking direction, motivation, and practical resources to grow their enterprises. Each entrepreneur is paired with a seasoned business mentor who provides focused, actionable advice tailored to their specific goals and challenges. This targeted approach ensures that participants receive only the most relevant insights to support their business journey. Our mentors are subject-matter experts with decades of entrepreneurial success. They provide enrollees with the confidence, determination, and mindset needed to achieve long-term growth and sustainability.
Urban Appraisers Initiative
The National Urban League has partnered with Wells Fargo to launch the Urban Appraisers Initiative, a groundbreaking effort aimed at diversifying the appraisal industry by creating pathways for Black trainees to complete their certification or establish their own appraisal businesses.
This five-year, $5 million initiative is part of the National Urban League’s broader commitment to advancing equity and justice within the housing sector. While closing the racial wealth gap and achieving equity in homeownership remain significant challenges, this initiative focuses on building a pipeline of qualified Black appraisers. Through the Urban League’s network of Entrepreneurship Centers, the program empowers future appraisers to serve their communities while supporting Black homeownership and economic growth.
The Urban Appraisers Initiative is being implemented through the Urban League affiliates in Greater Atlanta, Central Carolinas, and Houston. These affiliates will provide a combination of coaching, education, and capacity-building support tailored to the needs of aspiring appraisers. Participants will receive field-specific training, be placed in apprenticeships with certified appraisers, and gain valuable business management skills to help them launch and grow successful appraisal firms.
By increasing representation in the appraisal profession and promoting entrepreneurship, the Urban Appraisers Initiative creates new opportunities for economic mobility and long-term wealth creation within Black communities.
Our Advisors
The Entrepreneurship Center connects entrepreneurs with experienced business advisors who bring decades of expertise across various industries. These advisors offer focused guidance and practical skills to help prospective and existing business owners overcome challenges, navigate obstacles, and address specific concerns related to their ventures.
The EC provides year-round events dedicated to our cohort of business owners. Our events provide inspiration, guidance, skills, and other resources to empower the 21st-century entrepreneur. To learn more, inquire, or attend any EC event,
Resources
HBR Financing Entrepreneurial Ventures
Financing decisions depend on the type of venture and the amount of capital required to achieve positive cash flow. Entrepreneurs generally make financial forecasts when they are shaping the opportunity and crafting a business model. Yet experienced entrepreneurs know that they must continually revise those forecasts in response to what they learn through multiple experiments as they launch a venture. In the early stages of exploring and shaping an opportunity, new ventures are often financed by founders, friends, family members, banks, and individual angel investors. Recently, many entrepreneurs have also turned to crowdfunding, angel networks, and venture capital (VC) to finance early-stage businesses. During the experimentation and launch phases, additional financing may be provided by banks, VCs, angels, and strategic investors (corporations that invest in startups, generally to support a strategic goal). In many settings, governments provide funding to startups, especially in sectors seen to be strategically important.
Partner with the EC
Entrepreneurs need all of the expertise and guidance to face the challenges they come across every day. Your experience can make all the difference. Become a HAUL/EC partner today.
