The Need
In every county, every city and every state, small business owners need guidance as they open and scale their businesses. Entrepreneurs struggle with basics like finding a need and filling a need with their products and services. New businesses struggle with identifying their customer and communicating with them on the marketing channels they use to make buying decisions. Owners have difficulty with government contracts, accessing capital and understanding labor laws, insurance requirements and tax obligations.
When small businesses thrive, so do local communities. Successful small businesses mean safer communities and stronger economies.
Past Performance
The WHC Entrepreneur Curriculum has been developed, tested, taught and refined over the last 10 years. Over 10,000 business owners have experienced our in-person and online learning through training events in conjunction with the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Maryland Small Business Development Center, the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Morgan State University, the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation, the Charles County Economic Development Department, the Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Baltimore Urban League, the Maryland Governor’s Office of Small Business, our Baltimore Professionals and Entrepreneurs meetup and dozens of community partners across Maryland.
Our curriculum was written by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs and is delivered by entrepreneurs. This allows audiences of entrepreneurs and business owners to immediately connect with our facilitators because our words carry weight. Business owners need practical solutions based on experience, not theory.
Services
We offer individual classes, on-demand consulting sessions and 8-week cohorts. We have successfully graduated over 400 businesses though our cohorts with the U.S. Small Business Administration, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Anne Arundel County, Charles County, Baltimore Economic Leadership League and Morgan State University since 2020. Our program with Hopkins recently won national recognition for its impact on small businesses and innovative technique.
We can work in conjunction with your existing technical assistance solution, adding subject matter experts, curriculum, training and support to meet the needs of your small business community. We can provide online or in-person learning sessions, 8-week cohorts, and on-demand consulting sessions. Our team consists of subject matter experts in all aspects of business growth including human resources, law, accounting, finance, branding, marketing, sales, operations, government contracting, e-commerce, manufacturing, supply-chain, logistics, technology and leadership. All of our subject matter experts are entrepreneurs with at minimum, 15 years of experience.
We can customize the level of support needed for your target community of entrepreneurs.
Award-Winning Curriculum
For our work with entrepreneurs, WHC has been recognized by:
- The Governor of Maryland
- The Comptroller of Maryland
- The Maryland General Assembly
- The City Council of Baltimore
- The Mayor’s Office of the City of Baltimore
- The Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce
- United States Senator Chris Van Hollen
- United States Senator Ben Cardin
- Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz
- The Mayor’s Office of Employment Development
- Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business
- The University of Baltimore Merrick School of Business
- The Greater Baltimore Leadership Association
- National Association of African Americans in Human Resources
- Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship
- Black Professional Men
- Men Impact Change
- Baltimore Urban Alliance
Learning Session Sample
In this session, Facilitator Will Holmes explains the process for choosing the right business model, developing a pricing strategy and preparing a company for long-term growth so that business owners can enjoy a comfortable retirement. Holmes explains complicated concepts like inflation, pricing strategy, profit margins and break-even analysis in simple terms that business owners can relate to and embrace as they plan their future.
Next Steps