We believe that entrepreneurship can build collective power and nourish our communities.
Collab is an organization that aims to provide entrepreneurs with impactful, rigorous business support using a compassionate, fundamentally heart-centered approach so that they can build good businesses, create economic power, and shape their communities for themselves and their families. We prioritize serving people of color and women — particularly Black and Latinx entrepreneurs — who face persistent and significant barriers because of structural racism and sexism.
Entrepreneurship is a way to create economic stability for families, and also for individuals to have agency and ownership in their lives and their communities. Our core belief is that entrepreneurship (which we define as the act of taking a risk on behalf of our community) should be accessible to every single person, no matter where they come from.
We see our work as being a part of a wider ecosystem of entrepreneurship support resources, funding, and programs in our community. Our work within that ecosystem has 3 components:
Trust & Access: We have deep and broad outreach infrastructure to reach the most entrepreneurs. Our programs provide wraparound services like childcare, transportation, and interpretation to make sure individuals can be supported and successful.
High-Touch Programs: Our programs combine high-quality business education with a heart-based leadership development curriculum.
Ecosystem Pathways: We take an ecosystem-level approach to ensure entrepreneurs have a system of enduring support — including a broad network of mentors, pro bono partners, funders, and other programs.
Community & Power: Our entrepreneurs are more powerful when they move and work together. We bring our 100+ graduates together to act as a coalition to advocate for themselves and our community’s collective good.
