“I heard about the Kiva loan through my SBTDC counselor, and she told me one of her clients got his Kiva loan and was excited about it. So I thought that maybe I should look into it,” Melanie Wright explains.
A meeting with her business counselor is what led Melanie Wright, founder of The Wright Village, a Southeast Raleigh-based co-incubator, to eventually raise $3,500 in ten days through Carolina Community Impact’s Kiva Hub.
Wright founded The Wright Village two years ago, in the middle of the pandemic. She says that her passion for entrepreneurship and her desire to assist others in pursuing their visions is the foundation of her business.
“The Wright Village is a space for underserved entrepreneurs. It’s like a co-working space, but we call it more of a co-incubator because we’re incubating businesses,” she explains. “We share resources, and we use our expertise to share those resources to lower the overhead costs when you’re starting your business. Our members have access to group coaching and one-on-one coaching. We have workshops and networking events. It’s about building relationships with different people and not making it so transactional.”
With a degree in marketing from North Carolina Central University, Wright knew she wanted to be a business liaison for other entrepreneurs. After owning another business and learning valuable lessons on what it takes to build a sustainable business, Wright decided to concentrate her efforts on creating a space for others to lay the foundation for a successful venture.
Before receiving capital through CCI’s Kiva Hub, Wright funded her business with her own money. However, she knew that self-funding her business would only take her so far.
“We have 20 members. So before recommending anything, I always want to test it. My members trust me as a resource. So I vet everything first.”
Discovering the Kiva lending platform was a combination of needing access to capital and wanting to test it before recommending it to her co-incubator’s members.
Wright admits that initially, she was worried about her success on the Kiva platform, and her main concern was getting five people to invest in her business.
“If you don’t get five people, you have to start all over again. That can be discouraging if you put it on social media and you can’t get five people to invest,” Wright says.
Wright worked alongside CCI’s Capital Access Manager, Frank Del Villar, to set up her Kiva profile and get tips on marketing it. Her fully-funded campaign allows her to expand her business model to include virtual coaching, access to the co-incubator’s members, and incentive-based programming.
“Frank was awesome! I’m excited about continuing to work with CCI. And, of course, I’m excited about finishing a successful Kiva campaign!”
For more information about CCI’s Kiva Hub, please visit https://ccifund.org/kiva-hub/
