Tacoma, Washington, August 2021 --- Rodell Razor and Jeremiah Captain, co-founders of the Venture firm X-Factor Capital, were guest speakers at the Spaceworks Tacoma Black Business Accelerator. The accelerator is a new business development program that prepares Black entrepreneurs for occupancy of 100,000 square feet of retail space slated to arrive in the coming years. Containing the highest density of Black people in the northwest, X-Factor believes that Tacoma and south King county have a chance to become a premier location for Black businesses.
Rodell and Jeremiah spoke to the summer cohort of 12 business owners about different financial options for small companies and startups. “Now that we have some resources to match with our talent, it’s time to invest into the entire pipeline, starting from the youth programs in South Puget Sound up to companies looking to expand,” Rodell says.
The Black Business Accelerator’s initiative for business owners is to help them…
- Develop and execute winning business plans to start, grow, and fund their enterprises,
- Learn top strategies, tools, and resources for growing a sustainable business, and
- Learn about upcoming opportunities from community partners and developers.
In the program’s first phase, Drea Baines, CEO of Impossible Consulting, led a 2-month entrepreneurship boot camp to help groom black business owners for future retail space occupancy throughout Tacoma. Along with Drea Baines, both Spaceworks Tacoma’s Business and Community Development Coordinator (Kiara Daniels,), and the CEO of A+ Bookkeeping (Asia Dillingham), have also supported this project.
Drea said:
“Tacoma is a small town tied to blue collar ethics and bureaucratic methodology, which is what’s proving harmful to our economic state today. Bringing in private industry, investment and opportunity has proven to be our next best step forward, but we still work strategically to align with all resources available so that, in time, we’re all at the same table to win.”
There has been a rising demand for increased support of Black-owned businesses in the Hilltop neighborhood. Venture capital investment is a resource that Rodell and Jeremiah would like to expose more minority-owned businesses in this area too. Rodell said:
“The northwest is a future hotbed for Black entrepreneurial talent. X-Factor is apart of the development of this ecosystem with the help of other community partnerships.”
The accelerator program is an effort that aligns with X-Factors’ mission to invest in capable entrepreneurial operators with great ideas. The firm’s relationship with the Spaceworks team to evolve the black businesses in Tacoma. “We can help the efforts of many of the people who have spent years creating resources for black business along with corporate partners who have initiatives to be effective and contribute in meaningful ways.”
