From rebranding to getting nonprofit status to adding services and programs, it’s safe to say it’s been a busy couple years for the Exchange at Beverley Gray.
The entrepreneur service organization, located at 334 E. Utica St. on Buffalo’s East Side, was created by the city and Mayor Byron Brown in 2016 and is named after the late Beverly Gray, a Buffalo councilwoman who promoted entrepreneurship.
Since taking over in 2021 as executive director, Derrick Parson has spoken with over 100 entrepreneurs to refocus and rebrand the center.
“I’m a firm believer in you can’t make changes until you talk to people it affects directly,” he said. “We had to sit down and understand where we fit into the ecosystem.”
He also aimed to raise people’s awareness of the Exchange and what it does, while making sure people knew the center was a resource for all Black, indigenous or people of color entrepreneurs and business owners in the Buffalo Niagara region.
The center started the process of becoming a nonprofit in 2020 and final designations came through in 2021. This opens doors for the organization to go after new funding streams from private dollars to foundations to corporations.
Parson, a repeat and current entrepreneur, said during his travels to other tech startup markets, he noticed incubators with attached co-working spaces that are specifically geared toward demographics like BIPOC entrepreneurs, the LGBTQ+ community or female business owners. What makes these resources successful is having a city partner – which the Exchange already had, in the City of Buffalo – and a large university partner.
Now, the Exchange has both. By early 2022, the organization partnered with the University at Buffalo to be part of its WNY Incubator Network, a collaborative effort to help startups, grow regional wealth and expand entrepreneurial services. The program gives startups access to the school’s resources from faculty expertise to student talent to facilities and entrepreneur support programs.
Parson also inherited a mostly completed renovation of the center. The structural changes were already done, but the Exchange had furniture and design choices to make, which totaled under $100,000 and was paid for by funds already allocated by the city, he said.
The center rebranded from the Beverly Gray Business Exchange Center to the Exchange @ Beverly Gray and reopened post-pandemic and renovations in August 2022.
“We wanted something that can roll off the tongue,” Parson said. “We wanted the exchange of ideas, the exchange of resources.”
With that revamp also came added entrepreneurial offerings. Prior to 2021, the Exchange’s building was mostly taken up by community development financial institutions, and the center didn’t have co-working space. It predominantly focused on minority and women owned business enterprises (MWBE) work and business planning.
Now, the Exchange has co-working space, and its three office spaces are occupied by small businesses or nonprofits and its expanded services and programs. The organization now focuses on business owners in the ideation stage through years three to five, as well as those who have been in business longer but are looking to pivot.
The center has incorporated legal, tax, accounting, financial and marketing services.
“We’ve found a sweet spot in getting the partners who are already doing the work, getting volunteers who are willing to give their time and that final piece are those contracted pieces,” Parson said. “Because … why not work with those people actually doing the work that we need as well?”
The center currently has about 15 co-working members. Between its free community meeting room, the events and programs it has hosted and the businesses it has assisted, the Exchange has impacted over 200 entrepreneurs since last August, Parson added.
The nonprofit will oftentimes give out free one-month co-working memberships so that people become aware of the service, how it works and how it can help them. That’s important for the BIPOC community in Buffalo especially, where incubator and co-working spaces are “still relatively new,” according to Parson.
Since 2021, the center has also gone from a team of one to a team of four workers, including an office manager; a resource navigator, who helps businesses find local, regional and national resources; an entrepreneur success associate, who is a personal contact for entrepreneurs throughout their business journey; and two volunteers.
Next month, the Exchange is kicking off its second annual Black Business Month celebration, which will include announcing open registration for a new program for entrepreneurial enrichment. The first cohort of the pilot program will have 15 members and will kick off in late September.
The 12-week program will help founders anywhere from ideation to three years.
“Upon completion they’ll have a business formed, business plan, website and a bunch of things every entrepreneur needs once they start,” Parson said. “That will be all free of charge for them.”
