New Partnership Aids Small business Goals Turn into Truth for Immigrant Business owners

Teguo Daniel Djoyum’s enthusiasm to distribute awareness about neurodiagnostics sparked when he was young.

“At a youthful age, my brother had epilepsy,” Djoyum states. “In the village the place I grew up, [in Cameroon], epilepsy was a taboo to make enjoyment of, and I was quite damage to see that. Men and women I realized and loved were being stigmatized and kicked out of culture simply because they believed it was a curse.”

That expertise commenced his instructional journey to make neurodiagnostic recognition his life’s perform, major him to start a non-profit to spread consciousness and to return to university to work on his doctorate in public wellness at Harvard College. But immediately after touring the planet with his nonprofit, training other folks to do neurodiagnostic testing, he observed a hole.

“We realized there was essentially a want for an arranged spot where men and women can have tests,” Djoyum suggests. “After schooling people today how to do it, they’re like, ‘OK, now what?’ In some cases we will donate tools to hospitals, but which is not sustainable. So, we had been like, why not produce a firm?”

Which is when Djoyum turned to the Planet Trade Middle (WTC) Denver and the College of Denver’s College Higher education to help convert that aspiration into a reality. 

In the slide of 2020, WTC Denver and DU teamed to offer you a Business enterprise Progress Certification to assistance migrants and refugees construct their enterprise thoughts thanks to DU Grand Challenges, a college-large initiative to assistance local community-engaged get the job done that helps our communities thrive. Numerous customers of the DU community have been concerned in receiving the plan off the ground as component of that effort and hard work. As business owners at different stages of companies attained out to WTC Denver for enable, the center would propose them for the new studying option via DU to support get their enterprises jogging on all cylinders. DU Grand Difficulties enabled all pupils in the software to get sizeable scholarships to assist fork out for their finding out. 

“DU is a personal institution committed to the community very good,” suggests Arianna Nowakowski , director of the Worldwide Group Engagement system. “This was really crucial for us to wander the stroll and operate directly with valued partners these kinds of as the Planet Trade Heart towards the betterment of the community we share.”

The 4-class application focuses on business preparing fundamentals, monetary arranging for enterprise, lawful pathways for business enterprise progress, and developing your manufacturer and advertising and marketing approach.

“The system essentially was to guidebook us on how to start a enterprise and how to operate a enterprise,” Djoyum claims. “The classes we took ended up genuinely on level, like finding out how to have a enterprise plan, which we didn’t have at that time. It guided us on placing those alongside one another, creating our economic paperwork, how to present revenue and losses and how to work out it and how to set up an Excel sheet to truly track our money to see if you are creating a profit or not.”

He claims the course aided make Purple Level Neurodiagnostics, PPN, a reality. The enterprise was established with Kaye Nashe, an additional participant in the program, along with Lucien Kilonda and Tchendje. His business is doing the job to have clinics in establishing nations deliver neurological testing. It trains clinics’ staffs to check for neurological disorders or disorders this sort of as epilepsy and other neurological pathologies, which includes carpal tunnel. His company supplies the devices and follows up to carry out the tests.

 “If you are passionate about what you are executing, [DU’s] system is likely to piece it all with each other,” Djoyum states. “It’s a wonderful start for individuals who want to begin enterprises or even all those who have a organization and want to run it much better.”

Djoyum’s results tale is just one of a lot of. Ahmad Nazari introduced Purely natural Gems, which imports jewels from his property in Afghanistan. Fatou Doumbia’s AGILE Global sells jewellery and purses manufactured by women in her home in Mali, aiming to empower rural females and return Mali and West Africa to food stuff protection.

The president and CEO of WTC Denver, Karen Gerwitz, claims this partnership is instrumental in supporting new small business leaders reach their goals.

“It is important to present a well-rounded schooling for immigrants on the lookout to break the mould to create their individual prosperity via entrepreneurship vs. functioning however a different very low-wage support work,” suggests Gerwitz. “DU desired to locate means to aid immigrants in setting up prosperity and prosperity for their family members and gain access to the know-how to do so, and the WTC Denver system will help to facilitate that.”

So significantly, 25 entrepreneurs completed all of the courses, and the benefits of the program are presently noticeable. Megan Peiffer, director of the World wide Trade Activator Immigrant Software with WTC Denver, has watched lots of participants go via the classes and attain their small business dreams.

“I was in a position to sign up for the lessons along with our entrepreneurs, and not only had been the instructors inspirational and instructional, but to view our business people mature with each course every single solitary week in their self-confidence and inspired travel still brings a light-weight to my eyes,” Peiffer states. “It is specifically what our system is about and why our partnership with DU is so important – since of the direct impression on our immigrant community, enterprise local community and Colorado as a whole.”