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We’re Here to Empower Community Entrepreneurs
We’re Here to Empower Community Entrepreneurs
Benefits for Entrepreneurs
Get up to $15,000 of pro bono advisory custom-tailored to your NYC business from specialists in finance, operations and business strategy.
Tackle a dedicated project within the scope of this eight-week program with personalized support from your advisors.
Join a community of motivated NYPACE entrepreneurs at virtual and in-person events.
Have alerts for free entrepreneur workshops on accounting, staffing, financing, marketing and more delivered directly to your inbox.
Complete the post-program surveys for an opportunity to get your business featured in our newsletters, media and promotions.
Success Stories
Shakeemah Suber
From the moment the NYPACE team connected with Shakeemah Suber in 2022, we saw her dedication to her craft and knew she’d make an ideal entrepreneur for our program. Since starting her business, Get Incognito Hair Studio, Shakeemah had outgrown her space, serving 35-40 clients a week. NYPACE and Shakeeemah’s volunteer team supported Get Incognito by conducting a thorough financial analysis of the business, both to apply for financing in the future and to help Shakeemah with day-to-day operations.
1st
Full-Time Hire
As of the end of 2023, Shakeemah was able to hire her first full-time employee to join her three part-time employees.
1st
Expansion Plan
Shakeemah bought Znode to help her company expand. It tracks payroll, KPIs and more. Her next goal is to find a larger space.
Yudelka “Yudy” Carrera
Yudelka “Yudy” Carrera is well known to the NYPACE community. Her energy and enthusiasm for her business, for life, and for NYPACE are infectious and inspiring. She spent 17 years at a catering company before starting Events by Yudy, a full-service events and catering company, in 2015. After Yudy joined the fall 2021 cohort, her team built a detailed financial model, including revenue, costs, and profitability by business segment.
3x
Revenue Growth
“With my profitability model, I know what to charge. When a customer asks for a lower price, I say, ‘Hold on, let me see if I can go that low.’ The tool is so clever. I learned when to say no.”
Not only does Yudy feel more confident in saying no, she also learned when to say yes, which has led to her surpassing her pre-pandemic revenue.
Daphany Rose Sanchez
Daphany Rose Sanchez is the founder of Kinetic Communities Consulting, a certified B Corp which advocates for and implements energy equity market transformations for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers. When we met Daphany in 2021, she was operating her business project by project. Working with a volunteer team from JPMorgan Chase, she built a consolidated financial statement and a scenario analysis to forecast cash flows, which identified funds needed for both business investments and future liquidity needs.
7
New Hires
The company has doubled its revenue from the year prior, with new government contracts and a holistic financial picture of the firm.
5
New Hires
As of the end of 2022, Daphany now oversees 14 full-time and 3 part-time staff members, with additional plans to hire in the near future.
Melissa Shea
Melissa Shea is a fashion directory that connects industry entrepreneurs and professionals around the world. Melissa Shea had goals of building a one-stop B2B SaaS platform to connect members to jobs, resources, and opportunities that could help their businesses grow. After sitting with Melissa’s business, the NYPACE team identified a few key areas of growth, including hiring an engineering team to build a mobile app as a top priority, which Melissa did. The team also provided a critical review of her pitch deck to get new investors in Fashion Mingle.
10K
Users
In 2023 Melissa hit a huge milestone – 10,000 users. She launched her new platform in 2024.
$100K
Equity Investment
With a promising new platform in place, Melissa’s initial angel investor increased their commitment by another $100,000.
Sulaiman “Su” Sanni
Sulaiman “Su” Sanni was no stranger to working in tech; he had already spent over 10 years at tech-related startups. So it’s no surprise that when the time came to address the long-ignored problem of flexible transit options in areas underserved by the NYC subway system, he turned to tech for a solution. Su’s company Dollaride is a cashless transport option and ride locator app to grow the commuter van network in the Bronx and beyond. Su joined the spring 2021 cohort, where his volunteer team conducted market research on alternative business models and cost structures as a response to pandemic uncertainty and concluded that increasing profit margins was the best strategy.
40%
Revenue Growth
Profit margins grew alongside a 40% increase in revenue compared to
the year before the project.
40%
Revenue Growth
Since the project, Dollaride raised $800,000 in capital from
investors and was awarded a $10 million contract from New York.
Joyce Osan
Joyce Osan and her husband Olu Osanyingbemi operate Sunshine Environment Solutions, an environmental consulting company in NYC. When Joyce joined Olu at the company in 2020 to focus on operations and finance, she quickly realized that her husband’s firm had grown to a point where it needed additional tools to support growth. The NYPACE volunteer team built a contract bid model that gave the owners the ability to test various pricing and cost assumptions when putting together a bid. The goal of the model was to help Joyce and Olu more quickly see the impact of changes on contract margins, plus speed the processing of bids, increasing the capacity for growth.
$1 million
Contract Awarded
Just after the project closed, the team used the bid model to win a $1 million contract with the NY Department of Homeless Services, their largest contract to date.
From the moment the NYPACE team connected with Shakeemah Suber in 2022, we saw her dedication to her craft and knew she’d make an ideal entrepreneur for our program. Since starting her business, Get Incognito Hair Salon, Shakeemah had outgrown her space, serving 35-40 clients a week. NYPACE and Shakeeemah’s volunteer team supported Get Incognito by conducting a thorough financial analysis of the business, both to apply for financing in the future and to help Shakeemah with day-to-day operations.
As of the end of 2023, Shakeemah was able to hire her first full-time employee to come alongside with her three part-time employees.
Melissa Shea is a fashion directory that connects industry entrepreneurs and professionals around the world. Melissa Shea had goals of building a one-stop B2B SaaS platform to connect members to jobs, resources, and opportunities that could help their businesses grow. After sitting with Melissa’s business, the NYPACE team identified a few key areas of growth, including hiring an engineering team to build a mobile app as a top priority, which Melissa did. The team also provided a critical review of her pitch deck to get new investors in Fashion Mingle.
In 2023 Melissa hit a huge milestone – 10,000 users. She launched her new platform in 2024.
Yudelka “Yudy” Carrera is well known to the NYPACE community. Her energy and enthusiasm for her business, for life, and for NYPACE are infectious and inspiring. She spent 17 years at a catering company before starting Events by Yudy, a full-service events and catering company, in 2015. After Yudy joined the fall 2021 cohort, her team built a detailed financial model, including revenue, costs, and profitability by business segment.
With my profitability model, I know what to charge. When a customer asks for a lower price, I say, ‘Hold on, let me see if I can go that low.’ The tool is so clever. I learned when to say no.
Daphany Rose Sanchez is the founder of Kinetic Communities Consulting, a certified B Corp which advocates for and implements energy equity market transformations for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers. When we met Daphany in 2021, she was operating her business project by project. Working with a volunteer team from JPMorgan Chase, she built a consolidated financial statement and a scenario analysis to forecast cash flows, which identified funds needed for both business investments and future liquidity needs.
The company has doubled its revenue from the year prior, with new government contracts and a holistic financial picture of the firm.
Sulaiman “Su” Sanni was no stranger to working in tech; he had already spent over 10 years at tech-related startups. So it’s no surprise that when the time came to address the long-ignored problem of flexible transit options in areas underserved by the NYC subway system, he turned to tech for a solution. Su’s company Dollaride is a cashless transport option and ride locator app to grow the commuter van network in the Bronx and beyond. Su joined the spring 2021 cohort, where his volunteer team conducted market research on alternative business models and cost structures as a response to pandemic uncertainty and concluded that increasing profit margins was the best strategy.
Profit margins grew alongside a 40% increase in revenue compared to the year before the project.
Joyce Osan and her husband Olu Osanyingbemi operate Sunshine Environment Solutions, an environmental consulting company in NYC. When Joyce joined Olu at the company in 2020 to focus on operations and finance, she quickly realized that her husband’s firm had grown to a point where it needed additional tools to support growth. The NYPACE volunteer team built a contract bid model that gave the owners the ability to test various pricing and cost assumptions when putting together a bid. The goal of the model was to help Joyce and Olu more quickly see the impact of changes on contract margins, plus speed the processing of bids, increasing the capacity for growth.
Just after the project closed, the team used the bid model to win a $1 million contract with the NY Department of Homeless Services, their largest contract to date.
Program Offerings
NYPACE offers eight-week projects in our Flagship entrepreneurs advising program, shorter advising engagements in our Sprints program, and educational entrepreneur workshops.
If you’re an under-resourced entrepreneur in NYC and you’re beyond the start-up stage, we encourage you to learn more about our programs and small business resources.
Cohort
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Entrepreneurs
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Volunteers Per Entrepreneur
0
Hours/Week
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Weeks
1
Deliverables