Inclusive neighborhood entrepreneurship By Kirk Rose Akela Space
Best of A l a sk a Business
Building from Within
T
he data shows we haven’t done enough to make business ownership attainable for the many communities that call our state home. Women, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color are particularly underrepresented in business ownership across Alaska. At Anchorage Community Land Trust (ACLT), we know that to ensure that the next generation of Alaskan business owners reflects our great state, we must do one simple thing: We must believe in and invest in the talented local entrepreneurs that call our city and state home. Our Alaska story is all about the potential of entrepreneurs and small business owners and what they bring to our communities. By supporting business creation, we build communities from within and empower the next generation of community leadership. ACLT has spent the last twenty years disrupting concentrated poverty by bringing investment and opportunity to where it matters most. We invest in neighborhoods with a block-by-block 70 | J u l y 2 0 2 2
approach, working to build generational prosperity from within. Gene Gray came through our Set Up Shop business training program in the spring of 2020, when business owners everywhere were reeling. But Gene didn’t listen to the messages telling him to scale back, or that it wasn’t the right time. Gene began his business selling traditional Polynesian baked goods out of his home, bringing the flavors of Samoa to Anchorage. As his business grew, Gene had the courage and the moxie to build his dream brick-and-mortar restaurant in the heart of Spenard, launching Tatilani restaurant successfully in the middle of the pandemic. Gene operates the business with his family, now a gathering place for the Polynesian community and an example of what is possible. Tatilani's cuisine has gained so much popularity that Gene is already considering an expansion. Our Set Up Shop model is driven by entrepreneurs like Gene. Set Up Shop's pipeline of support provides training, business services, access Alaska Business
to capital, and real estate assistance, with one-on-one support throughout the process. Since we launched the program fi ve years ago, we have trained more than 250 entrepreneurs, provided more than 3,000 hours of technical assistance, deployed more than $250,000 in small business microloans, and launched twentytwo neighborhood businesses into their own brick-and-mortar spaces. Moreover, we are serving communities which have been under-represented for too long in business ownership. Among our clients, 70 percent are women and 80 percent identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color. When Gene and Tatilani succeed, the Spenard community does with him. Tatilani is more than just a restaurant; it’s a place where culture is shared and experienced, a gathering place after church and to celebrate life’s special moments like graduations, and a place where vibrancy has replaced vacancy on Spenard Road. We know that when neighborhood business owners thrive, they become role models, advocates, w w w .a k b iz m a g .c o m
