SAFE Credit Union Rallies Support for Black-Owned Businesses

SAFE hosted the Black Entrepreneur Success Academy's (BESA) first graduation ceremony recently at the credit union's Folsom headquarters.

FOLSOM, Calif., May 5, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- With as many as 20 percent of small businesses failing within the first year of opening their doors, SAFE Credit Union's commercial lending team is working to help Sacramento-area upstarts with the information and resources they need to be successful.

SAFE hosted the Black Entrepreneur Success Academy's (BESA) first graduation ceremony recently at the credit union's Folsom headquarters.

Inspired by the story of Tulsa's once thriving Black Wall Street, the newly created academy provides 12 weeks of professional development to Black business owners in various start-up stages.

The first graduates began the academy in January engaging in a series of courses focusing on business models, finance, marketing, and social media.

"We are so grateful to SAFE for their ongoing support of our program and for hosting the academy's first graduation," says BESA co-founder and facilitator Robynne Rose-Haymer, who says the idea began as "a back of a napkin pitch" after watching a news story about Sacramento's own Black Wall Street in Florin Square mall.

U.S. Small Business Administration's California Small Business Economic Profile statistics show of the 4.2 million small businesses in the state, a half percent, or 226,016, are Black-owned businesses.

"This group of entrepreneurs, in most cases, is doing double duty, working full time, taking this class and building their businesses. These are resilient, scrappy folks who are working very hard to bring their dreams to life," says Rose-Haymer.

The program's first graduates include entrepreneurs operating beauty, counseling, educational support, fashion, ice cream, jewelry, photography, and wellness businesses.

Anjetta Johnson, owner of the South Sacramento bookkeeping business Ivy Solutions, says BESA helped her develop a niche. "It also helped me think about expansion efforts and what that would look like," she says.

Brigitte Muderhwa, owner of South-Sacramento based The House of Royals, says BESA helped develop her business plan. "Before, I used to have just a basic business plan and now it's more structured. That was the missing part," she says.

SAFE Senior Vice President of Commercial Lending Ken Getz adds, "We are so excited to be on the ground floor of this much-needed Sacramento program."

About SAFE

SAFE Credit Union is a not-for-profit, state-chartered credit union in Northern California with over $4.5 billion in assets and more than 234,000 members. Insured by NCUA.

Media Contact

Carole Ferguson, SAFE Credit Union, 916-836-6318, [email protected]

SOURCE SAFE Credit Union