También puedes leer este artículo en español, Para un Emprendimiento Inusual Existe EforAll.

Leslie Villanueva owns Peppermint Lingerie, a lingerie company that specializes in tailored apparel for transgender women. Lucrecia Islas has created a Community Marketplace that unites food, music, and the cultures of Northwest Arkansas. Rosa Navares with Ohana Properties wants to provide affordable housing to the community.

They are all unusual business but have one thing in common: they are being guided by EforAll of Northwest Arkansas.

EforAll supports small and special enterprises or businesses. Their owners are members of minorities of ethnicity, gender, skin color and national origin.

EforAll was founded by Desh Deshpande in Massachusetts in 2010. Deshpande, an immigrant from India, became a billionaire by creating companies that produced material for the internet.

In 2014, the EparaTodos programs were created to support Latino entrepreneurs who requested help in Spanish. The EforAll and EparaTodos programs have expanded in the United States. The Northwest Arkansas office opened its doors in July 2021, thanks to the support of the Walton Family Foundation. Its Executive Director is the Mexican Rodrigo Salas.

“We look for three things in the entrepreneurs who participate in our programs,” he says, “they have a clear and concise idea of what they want to do, they are willing to dedicate the time and effort that it takes to start a business, and they maintain an open mind to consider other perspectives than the ones they have.”

“The only businesses that we cannot help are Real Estate (and) Pyramid Sales,” says Salas. They also do not help enterprises that may violate the law.

EparaTodos has developed two free programs on business topics, connections within the community and access to capital. One is the Launch Your Idea contest that allows business ideas to be perfected with feedback from experienced business volunteers. Selected entrepreneurs receive even more feedback and can win cash prizes to continue investing in their idea or business.

The other program is the Business Accelerator that lasts one year. The program helps entrepreneurs to develop a plan that guides the implementation of their idea. Each entrepreneur is assigned an exclusive team of mentors who guide, discuss, and motivate. The accelerator has two sections, first the Planning that lasts three months in which more than 20 experts give classes on how to develop a successful business plan. Then comes the Implementation which lasts nine months. Entrepreneurs set quarterly goals to continue with their idea and, at the end, they are ready to open their business or have already opened it. In addition, entrepreneurs can receive cash each quarter that can be used for their business.

How do I get in contact?

Those interested can visit eforall.org/es/ar/northwest-arkansas or write to Program Manager Ana Ortiz at ana.ortiz@eparatodos.org or Rodrigo Salas at rodrigo.salas@eparatodos.org