CUL Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation Business Coaches
The Chicago Urban League Entrepreneurship Center has a first class faculty of coaches, volunteer subject matter experts, and organizations to provide you with superior counsel for your business.
Kevin Davenport
Kevin P. Davenport is the Interim Director, for the Center of Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center at Chicago Urban League. He is also the founder of The Ideal Candidate, a non profit organization and training academy that focuses on corporate integration, personal development, and etiquette training for ages 16-24 year old.
Hours Available: Virtual Only: Monday and Thursday 9am-10am
Subject Matter Expertise
PPP Technical Assistance
Business Strategy
Leadership and Management
Marketing/ Branding
Pitch Preparation
How to Start a Business
Social Media
Non Profit Formation
Access to Capital
Procurement
James Parker
James Parker is Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program Manager at Chicago Urban League Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. He is also founder of Best Date Night, an app that creates date nights for couples.
Hours Available: Virtual Only: Every Friday from 11am-1pm
Subject Matter Expertise
PPP Technical Assistance
Business Strategy
Leadership and Management
Design (UX/UI)
Marketing/ Branding
Pitch Preparation
Technology / Innovation
How to Start a Business
Social Media
Leslie Williams
Leslie Williams is the Technology and Innovation Program Manager at the Chicago urban League. He has over 15 years of experience in the IT industry serving as a System Administrator, Tech Support Specialist and Consultant.
Hours Available: Virtual Only Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays 11am-3pm
Subject Matter Expertise
Digital Business Transformation
Website Design
Social Media Management
CRMs
Cloud-Based Business Applications
Diane McDonald-RBT Consulting
Founding Partner of Absolutely Anything Essential, a Certified Minority/Women Own Business.
RBT Consulting is the spirit of empowerment where we pass on our gift by creating opportunities for women, men, & our youth who's interested in starting their own business.
The uniqueness of our brand is that the addition to our products, vending, accessory making classes, and art classes we also have mentor other businesses
from retail businesses, event planners, bakers, caterers, painters, and more....
RBT is always looking to collaborate with other businesses to expand and Network.
Hours Available: See link for availbility
Subject Matter Expertise
Retail
Business Strategy
Social Media Presence
Vending your product
Marketing your product
Business Branding
Software technology for e-commerce sales
Karim Dure
Karim Dure is the NextStart Business Start-up Program Manager at the Chicago Urban League. He has over 14 years of experience as a entrepreneur, teacher, mentor and business coach and consultant.
Hours Available: Virtual Only Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 9am-2pm
Subject matter expertise:
Business plan writing
Elevator pitch coaching
Legal matters/incorporation needs
Basics of entrepreneurship
Franchise consulting - buying a franchise or franchising an existing business
Franchon Greenfield
Franchon Greenfield is the Procurement Technical Assistant Center (PTAC) Director at Far South Community Development Center. The Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) is designed to assist business owners who are wanting to sell products or services to federal, state, and/or local government. She is the founder of Idea 2 Launch Academy, a program that trains inmates on how to start a business. She has years of experience with assisting businesses with starting, growing, and obtaining government contracts.
Hours Available: Virtual Only: Tuesday-Thursday, 10:00am- 3:30pm
Subject Matter Expertise:
Marketing & Market Research
Understanding and navigating the government and procurement process
Bid preparation and submitting documents
Local Certifications: MBE, WBE, DBE, VBE
Assistance with applying for Small Business Certifications: 8a, HUBZone, WOSB, SDVOSB
Vendor Registrations: System for Award Management (SAM)
Registering for Bidmatch- a free service that pools from over 1600 databases nationwide. Companies receive emails for opportunities that match their capabilities.
Teaming Arrangements, Joint Ventures, Mentor/Protégé, & Sub-contracting opportunities