Starting a new business is very difficult in normal times but it cannot be denied that a pandemic adds challenges to that process that cannot be imagined.
“I’m just getting my feet wet,” Aaron McClinton said when describing how COVID-19 has affected his business.
McClinton started his photo-booth business in 2019 not knowing that he would have to close immediately because of this virus. But Aaron didn’t let this minor hiccup stop him.
“When COVID hit … I started doing virtual photo-booths,” McClinton said.
When the pandemic begins to decline in 2021, Aaron is looking forward to expanding his business. He heard about the Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP) and decided to apply.
“If I could do a backflip, I would,” McClinton said when he learned he had been selected for LEAP.
LEAP One and All is a program where 20 Lansing entrepreneurs are selected and given etiquette training to help develop their businesses. The program is two months long and participants are awarded $2500 upon their completion.
Darrien Gibson, owner of Elite Eatery LLC, has already seen the success that LEAP can bring to his company.
“I knew the destination I wanted to go to but the relationships I built … gave me a direct path to get there without having to get my head around it too much,” Gibson said.
Gibson has many companies and no guidance in building these companies.
“All the different businesses and avenues I’ve had, I never had a business plan for it. I had ideas and I knew how to make those ideas work,” Gibson said.
As a part of LEAP, Gibson and all the other participants will never have to be alone again. The program offers mentoring, networking, coaching, and all the other resources needed from the LEAP team and partners, Fledge and the Refugee Development Center.
Each entrepreneur is paired with a mentor who can help them with all aspects of their business. Gibson partnered with Jose Aste, owner of Tantay, a Peruvian cuisine across the street from him.
“When we first talked, he literally sparked a million ideas in my head,” Gibson said. “That’s a very good relationship … he owns a restaurant; He’s going into the food truck industry. … I told him about … what to expect in the food truck world and he told me how to get into … what I’m doing now.”
Dartagka Tipton, owner of 4 Tha Soul Restaurant, has high hopes for the program and is excited to use the money he’s given to re-brand his business that was hidden because of the former restaurant.
“When you pull it up it says, ‘Lil Barbecue’,” Tipton said.
He is looking to replace the sign left by the previous owners to invite more people into his business.
“On the front it says 4 Tha Soul but most people when they drive down the road, the sign is all they see,” Tipton said.
All of these business owners are excited about what the program has to offer them. This is a program specifically for minorities and all owners recognize this as an opportunity like no other.
“This program assures me that I have a second chance,” McClinton said. “When you have resources like this, you can conquer everything.”