Story URL: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=140285
Story Retrieval Date: 2/9/2010 8:01:22 PM CST
Printer-Friendly Version
E-mail This Story
Janeen Wynn/MEDILL
Chicago Urban League CEO Herman Brewer gave details on nextONE program at the Trump Hotel &Towers.
Black entrepreneurs earn business scholarships
by Janeen Wynn
Sep 29, 2009
nextONE Participants
Advertising Resources, Inc., Warren Lawson
Broadway Consolidated Companies, Margaret D. Garner
Carter Ware Group, Sherell Slaise and Sarah Ware
Chicago Shred Authority, Kenneth Williams
Hunter-Miller Group, Inc., Pepper Miller
Infrastructure Engineering, Inc., Michael Sutton, Sonia Johnigan and Antoinette Coates
Lambent Risk Management Services, Inc., Shirley Evans-Wofford
LiveWire Electrical Systems, Shon Harris
McFoster Development & Construction, Inc., George Foster
NJW Associates, Norma J. Williams and Lewis Burton
Onshore Technology Group, Valarie King-Bailey and Vincent Bailey
Professional Systems IT Services, William Burton
Solutions Associates Consulting, Jacquelyn Muhammad
Trice Construction Company, Stephanie Hickman
TUV Media, Jason Smikle and Ebele Mora
YoungBlood Executive Search, Inc., Ava YoungBlood
The companies selected for nextONE attend a business boot camp and six months of executive MBA courses at the
“To get a resource like this in one place is hard to find. With a market that is down like this, businesses need access to these resources not only to thrive but to survive,” said nextONE program director Michael Johnson.
Norma Williams, who owns NJW Associates, a Loop-based consulting firm, is preparing for the tough work involved in the program, but is looking forward to its challenges.
“It’s one of the most exciting times of my entrepreneur life. I get to work with some of the best coaches to fine tune my processes,” said Williams.
Williams said the program can help increase the value of her company so she can sell it and retire.
“Most of us have been running our companies either as an unguided missile or half full because we could not afford to invest in consultants or technology to make us the cream of the crop,” said Williams.
The three-year-old program is competitive. Only 16 companies were chosen from 89 applications, said Chicago Urban League CEO Herman Brewer.
NextONE sponsors fund the majority of the program and participants pay a small amount. Johnson said the value of the program ranges from $65,000 to $70,000.
The program aims to improve local businesses that are already established and hire within the community.
“We are working to help them refine what they have and to really position them for big success,” said Brewer.
