While growing up on the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago and in the inner city of Chicago, Isha Edwards was inspired by business owners, who she felt had a sense of freedom and wealth. That realization sparked one of her missions: to help minority businesses succeed. “If you teach a man to fish, he can feed himself for life,†she says.
After earning a business management degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Edwards took a job as a business education teacher in the DeKalb County School District in Decatur, Georgia, extolling the benefits of entrepreneurship to minority high school students. She became an entrepreneur herself after being challenged by one of her students.
“One day, one of my accounting students said, ‘Since you know so much about business, why aren’t you out there running one yourself?’†the 40-year-old Edwards recalls. “I knew I needed to start a business so I could come back to the classroom and be a model for my students so they would know that they could do the same thing.â€
In 2005, Edwards–with about $4,500 worth of personal savings, angel investments, and discounted business services–started EPiC Measures L.L.C., a brand-driven marketing consultancy that she runs part time when she isn’t teaching at Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia. She acquired her first clients through word of mouth and from there, she actively sought clients based on past successes. With minority firms comprising 70% of her client base, Edwards has coached, mentored, and instructed approximately 300 entrepreneurs from Atlanta, Los Angeles, Johannesburg, and Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. She has taught them how to develop the marketing skills necessary to increase brand awareness and promote top-notch customer service.
Edwards’ client list consists of entrepreneurs in entertainment, academia, nonprofit, and professional services, ranging from early stage startups to established businesses. Those requiring basic consulting services pay, on average, $1,200 per project, while services such as brand management, business planning and development, marketing communications, and promotional event management cost clients about $2,500 per project. She also offers a B2B Fast Pitch service, where clients pay a flat fee of $300 for two hours of consulting, which includes a review of a business profile document–assessing such factors as the client’s purpose, goals, strengths, product viability, and marketing strategy–and an in-depth strategizing session to strengthen any weaknesses found.
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EPiC Measures also helps young people learn the ropes through training and assistantship opportunities. For example, when she met the owners of BLAC Sheep Barbering
Ltd., a barbershop started by students at the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine, Edwards was so impressed by their entrepreneurial vision that she conceived an idea for an ongoing dialogue with them and the owners of Statz Barber Shop, which was founded on Morehouse College’s campus, and has a similar back story and clientele. Edwards then learned that BLAC Sheep Barbering also hosted business networking and leadership events for its customers and others in the community. She later collaborated with BLAC Sheep, providing her marketing and branding expertise, and lining up small business experts to speak via live Skype feed at the Global Business Mixer, an event that featured virtual participation from entities around the globe, including the Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co., the Entrepreneur Incubator Academy in Cape Town, South Africa, and the Entrepreneurship Education Project. As a result of the event, BLAC Sheep Barbering garnered media coverage and a local sponsor, First Citizens Bank in Port of Spain. BLAC Sheep also noticed a 40% increase in brand awareness through social media. “It was an opportunity for me to not only work with a new business and expand my reach and visibility in that country, but also to work with a group of young people who are passionate about paying it forward,†she says.These days, Edwards’ work has come full circle as she has encountered five former students from DeKalb schools and one whom she mentored while she was a student in Chicago. All are involved in entrepreneurial ventures.
Whether she’s teaching, consulting, or mentoring a minority entrepreneur, Edwards’ philosophy remains the same. “While it’s important to financially support the creation and growth of minority-owned businesses, I’ve found it more rewarding to ensure that business owners have the wherewithal to excel, increase, and prosper perpetually.â€
HOW SHE DID IT
Be more than a patron. Not only does Edwards look for opportunities to patronize black-owned businesses, she also serves as a cheerleader for them, making a conscious effort to link any business she comes across with a specific need with black-owned companies that can fill it. “Whenever I’m working with existing clients I go through my contacts and send [minority business owners] a note letting them know about potential leads,†she says. She also hires black-owned firms when she outsources marketing or branding tasks. Moreover, she attends business networking events, where she often meets entrepreneurs who can serve as vendors in the future.
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Add teaching to mentoring. As a minority business owner, Edwards regularly encounters less experienced minority business owners to mentor. But it’s not enough to have an occasional lunch with a mentee. Edwards believes mentors should take more of a teaching role rather than simply allowing mentees to pick their brains. She also thinks mentors should look for weaknesses in a given business and help mentees overcome them. “It needs to be like a Shark Tank experience where people who know their stuff say, ‘That doesn’t make sense.’ The mentor should help fix what’s wrong and then help you put it back together so that you can succeed,†she says. Mentoring should also promote the pursuit of success in other areas of life. For example, Edwards regularly asks business owners about their aspirations. “If you’re going to mentor, do so with a focus on building up the person before building up the business,†she says.
Provide financial resources. Rather than simply giving BLAC Sheep advice, Edwards offered practical support. She provided expertise to help them organize the business networking event, with service that can cost upward of $8,000. Everyone should look for opportunities to invest in black-owned businesses, she says. “If you really believe in a business, put your money where your mouth is.â€