Small Business Administration (SBA) officials took some time out of their day last Thursday to recognize a Roxbury-based business accelerator for its work helping emerging tech businesses in Boston.
Dudley Square’s Smarter in the City was one of 50 business accelerators nationwide to win the SBA’s first Growth Accelerator Fund competition – and the only accelerator in Massachusetts to do so.
"It’s just amazing to me what an organization like this will do in terms of connecting people and helping grow communities and really innovation here in Roxbury. It’s really phenomenal seeing the city transform in innovation over the years, it’s amazing with the Seaport [District] and how much has happened there, so we can just imagine what could happen here in Roxbury with hubs like Smarter in the City," SBA New England Regional Administrator Seth Goodall said at the event. "It’s really fostering an ethos and environment that will help businesses succeed, especially in this high tech space."
"You can just look out the window and see all the other parts of the city that have very well developed tech and bio tech industries and very high paying jobs. They’re looking for employees and then three miles away, you have a neighborhood that is in many ways the opposite," Gilad Rosenzweig, the founder and executive director of Smarter in the City, said.
He said of the companies his organization has been working with, "These are all companies that were already at a certain level, and they’re actually helping Smarter in the City almost as much as Smarter in the City is helping them."
As a business accelerator, Smarter in the City assists emerging tech companies and provides them with resources and professional support, including pro bono legal and marketing advice. The organization also gives its five startups office space in its headquarters on Warren Street.
Mbadika is among the accelerator’s first cohort. The startup, founded by Netia A. McCray, aims to foster entrepreneurship and boost the emerging middle class in sub-Saharan Africa. One of its projects is a solar-powered USB charger that the group hopes to bring to budding entrepreneurs in South Africa.
Smarter in the City received a prize of $50,000 in the competition that will be used to help fund the organization’s daily operations. In accepting those funds, the accelerators have also committed to quarterly reporting for one year. They will be required to report metrics such as jobs created, funds raised, startups launched and corporate sponsors obtained, among other pieces of information. This information will help the SBA create a database of accelerators and their impact, and to develop long-term relationships with the startups and constituents in innovative and entrepreneurial communities.
Eric Nakajima, the assistant secretary for innovation policy for the commonwealth, also praised Smarter in the City’s work, saying, "As we turn the corner and our economy’s growing, this is another great example of leadership that you’ve provided because frankly, entrepreneurship, innovation, accelerating the growth of our economy here in Massachusetts, and ensuring there’s broad participation in that growth, is a key objective of the governor and there’s really no better example of that than Smarter in the City right here in Roxbury."
He added, "It’s not just an idea, it’s not just a dream. The talent’s here, and they’re doing it."
