This Father is on a Mission to Help Black Entrepreneurs Scale and Grow their Businesses

If you’ve ever had a dream of creating personal and financial freedom for yourself and your family through business ownership, or you’re currently pursuing that dream, you know how challenging it can be to scale and grow a business without access to capital and a lack of financial literacy. 

It’s a challenge that Business Builders Institute founder and financial literacy advocate Bjorn ‘Beez’ Hendricks knows all too well. As a Jamaican immigrant, Hendricks moved to the States when he was 12 years old. It wasn’t easy adjusting to a new country, a new culture, and a new way of life, but he was determined to find success and achieve the proverbial American dream. 

While in college, Hendricks quickly realized his passion for entrepreneurship, solving problems, and being of service to others was too great to ignore.

That’s when he launched a tech repair business to help fellow students repair their PCs and other gadgets. But as a student working his way through college, he didn’t have access to the resources and funding needed to buy equipment to scale his business.

“Back then, I didn’t have any money. I was practically broke, trying to work my way through college,” shared Hendricks in an interview with BLACK ENTERPRISE. “I quickly realized for me to scale this business or any business for that matter, I needed money, but I didn’t have any money or the financial literacy foundation to even know where to get access to capital.”

Unlocking secrets to funding and scaling businesses 

Hendricks found himself in this very situation throughout his entrepreneurial journey. Over the years, he’s had to employ unconventional strategies to get access to capital like taking money out of his 401(k). A risk he was willing to take to achieve his dreams of entrepreneurship and financial freedom. But he knew there had to be a better way. 

After much trial and error, reading, research, and mentorships over the past two decades, he finally unlocked his own secret to success by strategically focusing his business efforts, building a firm foundation on business financial literacy principles, and solving problems for others through proven business models with an already established audience. 

Today he owns several businesses, including a supply chain management firm, digital marketing agency, and virtual assistant recruiting company.

“Many of the businesses I own today were actually born from the problems I encountered on my entrepreneurial journey, and I realized if I was having these problems, others were too. So I created systems and processes to help solve those problems, launch, grow, and scale these ventures,” shared Hendricks. 

Business Builders Institute: Empowerment through financial literacy

Since then, he has made it his mission to help entrepreneurs grow and scale their businesses through his Business Builders Institute, a platform to empower early-stage entrepreneurs to launch, grow, and scale their businesses. 

While other financial literacy advocates focus solely on personal finance topics related to day-to-day life, Hendricks provides entrepreneurs a firm foundation in business financial literacy. This includes a holistic, step-by-step approach to choosing a business model, getting access to funding, scaling, and growing multiple businesses through automated systems and well-documented processes. 

“My ultimate goal is to help entrepreneurs overcome the challenges I faced when starting my business. I focus on teaching financial literacy and strengthening access to capital through maximizing credit limits and turning credit into cash to create cash flow.”

Giving back to his community

Outside of his mission to empower entrepreneurs and create business builders, Hendricks is passionate about giving back to his community by working with local charities such as Kids in Distress to support children in need and planting the seeds of financial literacy from a young age. 

When asked what motivates him to continue spreading the message of financial literacy, he reflects on his time as a youth and his role as a father. 

“I wish I had the knowledge I have now when I was a kid. I wish I had someone to guide me and show me the right path, but now that I have that knowledge, I want to empower others and give back.” 

Learn more about the Business Builders Institute and connect with Hendricks on Instagram where he shares strategies to build and scale multiple businesses.