Thirteen entrepreneurs gathered at the Innovation Center of St. Vrain Valley Schools on Wednesday, equipped with newfound knowledge and a passion for businesses. Each entrepreneur underwent three months of training in an accelerator program facilitated by Entrepreneurship for All, or EforAll, a nonprofit organization that partners with individuals to start successful businesses.
The thirteen businesses featured a wide range of products and services, including bokashi composting, quilts, photography, mental health aid and coffee.
The coffee company, Montenegro Coffee, is owned by Kelvin Melgar, member of the entrepreneur cohort.
“Mi familia se crió cultivando café...traer un poquito del amor de nuestra cultura y nuestros sabores al mundo era algo que mamá siempre quería hacer. (My family was accustomed to growing coffee… being able to bring a little bit of love of our culture and our flavors to the world is something my mother always aspired to do),” Melgar said.
The Honduran business owner’s love for coffee merged with his desire to celebrate his mother’s legacy to create the Boulder-based coffee company. Melgar applied to EparaTodos, the Spanish version of the program, and joined the cohort of entrepreneurs in hopes of expanding his business toolbox.
“La idea de negocio que yo tenía era muy mínima, era muy pequeña. Mi mentalidad era ‘hago el sueño realidad’ y es todo, pero EparaTodos me abrió las puertas para hacerlo en grande. (The idea of business that I had was very minimal. My mentality was ‘make the dream come true’ and that was it, but EparaTodos opened doors for me to make it big),” Melgar said.
Melgar is among the thousands of entrepreneurs that have joined the EforAll program across the nation. EforAll matches business owners with suitable mentors and provides networking and finance classes that teach them the ins and outs of running a successful business.
Half of the businesses born from the Longmont EforAll program are immigrant owned and 84% are women-owned.
“We want to be inclusive. We want to be serving all of our communities and those underserved pockets that need a little nudge so their businesses can flourish,” said Program Manager Rebeca Snowden.
EforAll will host an All Ideas Pitch Contest on Mar. 20. Pitch Contests are open to any entrepreneur to pitch their ideas, no matter how big or small they are, according to Snowden.
“It’s like Shark Tank without the teeth,” Snowden describes.
