HBCU Accelerator Grads Get Business Boost From Wells Fargo Foundation

A Benedict alumna invests in her college's program.

It “takes a village to build a startup.” That’s what Lauren Mills has learned as CEO and founder of College Action Program, a web-based platform that helps college and universities transition students from acceptance to enrollment.

As a graduate of the Benedict College Statewide Investment Accelerator (BCSIA), Mills now has the “community, curriculum and confidence” to take her business to the next level.

\And thanks to a recent $100,000 donation to BCSIA from the Wells Fargo Foundation, Mills and fellow program graduates now have needed financial support for projects such as website updates and expanding marketing and branding efforts.

“I just love the fact that as a first-generation founder, as an underrepresented founder, as a Black woman founder, we have broken down that barrier for access to capital,” Mills, crediting Wells Fargo and BCSIA leaders, tells BLACK ENTERPRISE.

Training Entrepreneurs to Invest in Their Communities

BCSIA provides customized training, coaching, and technical assistance to diverse South Carolina small businesses. According to Program Director Millicent B. Lann, BSCIA selects cohorts of just five small-business owners who engage in 12-week curriculum cycles.

“I help these early stage, diverse founders accelerate their growth to benefit not only themselves, but the entirety of South Carolina, and expand their economic footprint,” Lann says.

The program’s third cohort just concluded coursework. Applications will open this fall for cohort four.

Benedict Alumna Invests in Alma Mater’s Program

Pam Bryant, vice president, community relations with the Wells Fargo Foundation, visited Benedict College’s campus in Columbia, S.C. with fellow leaders in late September, making the donation at a press conference.

“I was raised by Benedict College to be a power for good,” said Bryant, an alumna of the HBCU, “and I’m incredibly blessed to be able to put those skills and gifts to talents to work at Wells Fargo. Let’s continue to support, celebrate, and uplift small businesses across this country and in this state, because when they succeed, we succeed.”

BCSIA Executive Director Dr. Tracy Dunn tells BE that Wells Fargo’s support provides “non-diluted funding” to the graduates of the program.

“We can’t give them $100,000 but we can give them enough to make a difference and move the needle forward for that business,” Dunn explains. “We can gift them these funds for them to use in any way they see fit to grow their business.”

The $100,000 donation will directly support BCSIA graduates, including Mills and Carl Vann, founder and CEO of Pass The Peaz. His unique recipe app aims to preserve culture and heritage through food while also empowering Black and Brown communities to fight food insecurity. He heard about Benedict’s Accelerator Program on Instagram, applied and got in.

“It helped me learn how to talk about my business,” says Vann, a self-described introvert. “It helped me with pitching every single week and I got really good with it.”

Since then, he has taken those sharpened pitching skills and secured meaningful partnerships to help fight food insecurity and to elevate Pass The Peaz.

Purposeful Partnership

During the press conference, Benedict College president and CEO Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis noted that an expansion of BCSIA would “build an entrepreneurial ecosystem that will have a multiplier effect on our communities and help to invest in—not just the communities immediately around Benedict College, but across the state and across the nation,” and added that “it’s because of partners like Well Fargo that we’re able to continue the work that we are doing.”

In addition to the support from Wells Fargo, AT&T donated 100 laptops to Benedict students in early October as a part of AT&T Connected Learning initiative to address the digital divide through internet accessibility, affordability, and safe adoption. The company has committed $5 billion to help 25 million people gain and stay connected to high-speed internet by 2030.

“This laptop is more than just a device. It’s an investment in my future,” said Jillian Garrison, a criminal justice major at Benedict.