HBA contest helps would-be entrepreneurs

HBA contest helps would-be entrepreneurs

Harlem Business Alliance

Precious Williams (c.) got her plus-size lingerie business up and running after she won $ 5,000 in last year’s Harlem Business Alliance Business Plan Competition. 

Precious Williams used to tear out her hair over finding lingerie; and thats when the ligh t went on.

I realized that if youre a woman whos bigger, there arent many options out there, said Williams, who spent nearly a year talking to friends and family about how she could sell plus-sized intimate apparel.

It wasnt until Williams won $ 5,000 in startup funds from the Harlem Business Alliance that her plus-sized dream became a reality. She chucked her day job as a mortgage lawyer and launched a website, curvygirlzlingerie.com things took off pretty quickly from there.

I needed a business plan because I could only fund it on my own for so long, said Williams.

After she won HBAs Business Plan Competition last year, Williams sold more than $ 10,000 worth of merchandise double the cash prize in her first month of business. Now, she is considering opening a storefront in Harlem.

You never think of all that comes from winning a competition like this, said Williams. I feel like a rock star.

Dozens of uptown entrepreneurs wi ll submit their own business plans to the HBA this year, in hopes of winning the startup funding.

Most business owners are wrapped up in the day-to-day and never think about how to move the business forward, said Regina Smith, HBAs executive director. Its all about the process of getting them to think through their business plan.

In addition to Williams lingerie site, the HBA competition has helped launch a green cleaning company, a Harlem digital media company and others.

Contestants participate in a series of workshops and seminars to fine-tune their social needs analysis, marketing and financing plans before pitching their final business plan to judges in June.

Its really an incentive for something that someones been planning to do, but has been distracted by other things in life, Smith said.

High rents and an economic downturn have shuttered a growing number of Harlem businesses in recent years, marked most recently by the closure of Nectar, a wine bar on Frederick Douglass Blvd.

A 2009 study conducted by the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce found that nearly 40 of Harlem businesses closed down in a one-year span.

With businesses struggling to stay afloat in the tough economy, Smith says encouraging uptown entrepreneurship is more important than ever.

Theres always interest in fostering business in this community because many of our retail stores and restaurants have been pushed out, Smith said. Anything we can do to encourage entrepreneurship in the community is a great goal.