We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tanya Morris a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Tanya, appreciate you joining us today. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.
Mom Your Business serves black and brown women and the way we came to do that is because they are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurship yet the least funded but also because we heard so many stories from colleagues, friends who had their own business, or who were trying to start a business but they were frustrated or felt stuck in the business because it wasn’t growing or they weren’t building sustainable businesses.
We realized the support, resources and access to capital black women were receiving wasn’t enough. They needed more if they were going to build wealth and really be successful. But we also knew that if we did that we were not only helping her to grow, but we were supporting an entire community.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Honestly, Mom Your Business started by accident. We were doing special events for women like tea parties, workshops and did an event in2017 called mom your business and afterwards a friend really thought that there was more to it than that and saw an opportunity to do some other things like retreats and other types of programs. So we put together a brainstorming session and decided that we would serve this population really in a way that it wasn’t being served exclusively in Philadelphia.
The needs of black, women entrepreneurs are different from that of white women and even a black men. So many Black women are caregivers, breadwinners and they started their businesses out of need whether that was the need for a new car, a prom dress, a large appliance, or to pay for daycare or school and not just for their children, but for themselves, And we started with what I do best which was mentoring and workshops.
When the pandemic hit, and that really brought about some new and different challenges but it also gave us an opportunity to create founders to funders business accelerate a program, which is the only business accelerator designed by black women for black women in the City of Philadelphia . Since 2021 we have helped 64 women helped them raise over $250,000 in capital.
We also have an online technical assistance program and we’ve launched a an impact investment fund. And this year we opened a physical space which ironically was the vision when we started. Now that we have a space, a safe space for all entrepreneurs, innovators and creatives to receive support, resources and grow their network.
Have you ever had to pivot?
So in 2015 I was the co-owner of a T-shirt company that started with a mentee. It was a brand for young women a motivational inspirational brand and it was doing well. We were in a couple stores developing online e-commerce, and we had just completed a business accelerator the first one either one of us had done and not long after she decided that she wanted to do hair she didn’t want to do the business anymore.
I tried to keep it going for period of time. I was in between jobs and I was looking for a full-time job when realized that this wasn’t my vision this was her idea. This was her really her company even though we were partners, and so I had to pivot. I stopped doing events went strictly online, and I went back to doing what I wanted to do what I was to do, what were my gifts and talents and drugs, and so I went back to writing. I wrote my third book, The Power of One. Later I accepted a position at Cheney University in there, business supportive services center and really began to develop my business coaching skills through that position and those skills those resources I use today to help our portfolio companies.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
We are always in contact with our founders whether that’s through our newsletter doing Instagram live and hosting events. We have an annual founders to funders alumni dinner. We help them to continue growing their business and strategizing, by providing additional support and connecting them with other opportunities and featuring them in the media. We also do an annual conference.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://momyourbusiness.com/ https://founders2funders.com/ https://mybhubnorth.com/
- Instagram: @momyourbusiness @thementormogul and @mybhubnorth
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MomYourBusiness
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mom-your-business/
- Other: https://open.substack.com/pub/founders2funders/p/welcome-to-womens-history-month?r=79we0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web