Five years after launching an accelerator for underrepresented entrepreneurs, Juliana Cardona Mejia is preparing to spotlight a group of startup founders from all corners of the District.
Her D.C. nonprofit, Street Entrepreneurs, will feature eight ventures — all from women and Black, Indigenous and people of color, or BIPOC — at its biennial pitch competition at 7 p.m. Dec. 15. The virtual contest is the culmination of a yearlong educational program that in 2020 served 1,000 small businesses in lifestyle, technology, content creation, consulting and other areas, from each of the city’s eight wards.
Cardona Mejia, the organization’s founder and CEO, bills the event as a cross between “American Idol” and “Shark Tank” — yes, with a panel of investors and experts who judge the pitches. But Street Pitch calls on the audience to invest funding to their favorites, by contributing to crowdfunding campaigns or buying their products, for instance.
The event serves as the championship of the accelerator, which despite the coronavirus pandemic held 60 virtual workshops this year on topics such as strategy, access to capital, legal nuance and design thinking. The program this year also connected founders to mentors and coaches, held socially distanced lectures and hosted town hall discussions to create a response team for small-business owners hit hard by Covid-19.
It comes alongside other services the organization provides, such as childcare, transportation and Wi-Fi stipends “to even out the playing field and give the best players a chance to compete,” Cardona Mejia said in an email. “Even so, we know we have a long way to go to build equity and are looking for funders interested in dismantling systemic barriers around business licenses and healthcare for solopreneurs.”
The eight finalists nabbed their slots after fulfilling curriculum requirements in the accelerator and completing peer reviews about their business models, growth plans and knowledge. The Greater Washington ecosystem needed this program because startups with scaling potential often are not ready for existing accelerators — many of which seek scalable and venture-bound businesses, Cardona Mejia said.
She built up the nonprofit, which is funded through foundation support, location government aid and small donors, while working with the World Bank Group to design a hackathon program in Uganda. She was also running workshops for youth experiencing homelessness through D.C.’s Inclusive Innovation Incubator that began to draw a wider audience, including retired corporate attorneys. That’s when “Street Entrepreneurs took a life of its own,” she said. “Our focus became: how might we create a grit-based economy, where people experiencing the problems have access to the knowledge, networks, and capital needed to solve them.”
Cardona Mejia, originally from Medellin, Colombia, has a background in startups and innovation after earning a bachelor’s in political science from Florida Southern College. She co-founded D.C. fintech startup Street Investors Exchange and served as an innovation strategist with Seattle-based consultancy Mindhatch. She also comes from a family of entrepreneurs, helping fuel the fire that became her nonprofit which, now, is her full-time job.
“We had lost everything to war in Colombia and the post 9/11 economic depression, yet my mom’s willing to do whatever she needed to moved us forward,” she said. “She went from walking on high heels to cleaning bathrooms. On a couple of occasions, I accompanied her to clean office spaces at night, and I witnessed her drive. It is this same drive that I witnessed in the streets of D.C. years later.”
Here are the 2020 Street Pitch finalists:
- Charanor Marcano of Charanor, a leather goods company that makes women’s shoes
- Fabrice Guerrier of Syllble Studios, a fantasy and science fiction writers’ production house
- Jessica Dew of CLIQQ, a contact sharing and relationship management app
- Maddie Boening of Sunstone Candles, which makes candles that contain surprise crystals
- Meghan Brown of Meditate Boldly, which creates nature-inspired functional art and home décor
- Paul Joseph of Vegan Skin by Paul Joseph, a plant-based, e-commerce skincare company
- Ruth Rau of Mouse Loves Pig, an organic baby toy company
- Walter Pearson of College Bound Parenting, a college planning platform for families
