Sarah Adams, a teacher, started a side business in 2015 selling her Jamaican grandmother’s rum cake with $5,000 from her husband’s retirement savings. Soon she was handing out samples at markets and street festivals, building her business, Mrs. Macs, one by one.
But when the pandemic crippled her growing business in 2020, Ms. Adams, who lives in a public housing complex in northern Manhattan, was forced to change. Ms. Adams taught remotely and used the money she saved by not commuting to try out recipes for vegan muffins, reduced-sugar cookies, and low-carb pizzas.
A few months ago, Mrs. Adams received a newsletter from her landlord, the New York City Housing Authority, announcing a new competition for entrepreneurs living in public housing. It offered cash prizes of up to $20,000 and free business development classes.
“I thought it was fake,” Ms. Adams said. She called the housing authority to make sure it was genuine.
Ms. Adams, 47, owns one of nine companies that have won “NYC Boss Up,” a “Shark Tank” style contest that invites some of the city’s poorest residents to propose business ideas for further development and financing. A total of 279 applications were submitted, of which 23 were selected for the final round. Those entrepreneurs then pitched their business plans and field questions to a jury at Brooklyn’s Central Library in March.
The Boss Up program was funded for five years with a $1 million grant from the family foundation of Ron Moelis, a real estate developer who got the idea after reading a 2022 report from the Center for an Urban Future, a non-profit organisation. The report highlighted an untapped opportunity to increase entrepreneurship among public housing residents.
“It’s very hard to start a business in New York City,” said Mr. Moelis, who, after selecting the winning entrepreneurs, met with the losing finalists to provide feedback and encourage them to try again next year.
Mr. Moelis helped develop the Boss Up program with NYCHA, which offers free business programs to residents and other partners, including FJC, a foundation that administers the rewards.
Applicants for the Boss Up program must live in one of NYCHA’s developments — home to approximately 368,000 residents citywide — or receive federal housing subsidies through the Section 8 program. The one-time rewards are not included in the household income, which is used to calculate their rent.
One of the winners, Valeria Ortiz Martinez, 18, who lives at the Dyckman Houses in Inwood, saw a flyer for the contest in her lobby. She turned her idea for a customizable digital business card — which looks like a credit card and transfers information by tapping a cell phone — into a company, ConnectoTap.
Other winners, like Ms. Adams, were already running small businesses but needed some help to get to the next level. She plans to use the $20,000 to introduce her line of healthier baked goods and focus more on marketing.
Kat Perez, another winner, started her company, Kat D Productions, in 2019 with video equipment borrowed from her alma mater, the College of Mount Saint Vincent, which was also her first client. While there, Ms. Perez and a friend shot two videos of students defining slang terms. The videos collectively attracted more than six million views.
Since then, Ms. Perez has made more than 50 videos and earned $38,300 in revenue last year. “I felt like I finally had the foundation to grow my business, but I didn’t have the capital or resources,” says Ms. Perez, 25, who lives in the Bronx with her mother.
With the prize money, Ms. Perez plans to hire an assistant, purchase additional video equipment and promote her business on social media, she said.
Daniel Wool, who founded the Digital Design Truested Technologies company in 2022, plans to use the $20,000 to diversify and market his company, which pays volunteers to test hardware and software systems for businesses. “It was a seed of a business – I think they really gave me the impetus to move forward,” says Mr Wool, 45, who lives at the Grant Houses in Morningside Heights.
For Michael Watson, an artist living in Harlem, winning the competition is an opportunity to build his art business, Fable Jones Studios.
During the pandemic, Mr. Watson began to draw and paint more and saved enough money to open a gallery in Bushwick, Brooklyn in 2020. There Mr Watson, 35, displayed his watercolors and also displayed works by other local artists, musicians and performers, most of whom were people of color.
But he had to close the gallery a year later after the landlord rented the space to someone else. Mr. Watson plans to reopen in a different location. But for now, he’s considering all his options.
“I haven’t spent a dime of the money yet because I want to make sure the plan I have is the best plan,” he said. “I don’t want to make mistakes.”
