Do you have a business you want to start? The BALSA Grant can help you get going!
BALSA Grant recipients receive:
New for 2025! Cash grant of $1,500
Participation in the Learning Series
One-on-one mentoring
Eligible to apply for the $5,000 Follow-on Grant
The BALSA Grant is designed for first-time St. Louis entrepreneurs wanting to start or grow their early stage business in St. Louis. We welcome applications from all business sectors, and from non-profit as well as for-profit organizations. We are accepting applications to the BALSA Grant from January 1st - 24th, and you can apply here.
The Learning Series is a 10 week comprehensive entrepreneur training program that introduces them to the St. Louis business ecosystem, brings them industry experts, and provides one on one time with each presenter after the session. Sessions take place 6-8pm Thursdays, and we ask that BALSA Grant winners commit to participating in at least 80% of the sessions offered.
You can apply to The BALSA Grant twice a year, starting January 1 and July 1.
On September 25, we celebrated a significant milestone for the BALSA Foundation— our Summer 2024 BALSA Grant cohort and our tenth anniversary! This event highlighted the incredible entrepreneurial spirit of our community, as we awarded $1,000 cash grants, mentorship, and networking opportunities to ten first-time entrepreneurs looking to take their businesses to the next level.
We were also thrilled to support one $5,000 follow-on grant, thanks to the support of our friends at CIBC. Congratulations Knox Academy and its founder, Kim Knox who has shown exceptional potential and growth. Kim’s hard work and dedication to her venture have truly set her apart, and we can’t wait to see where she goes next.
In addition to Kim, the following entrepreneurs were awarded the BALSA Grant, each bringing their unique talents and business ideas to the St. Louis community:
Happy Feet Plus – Bounce house rental services for parties, events, and community gatherings, offering delivery, setup, and takedown.
Touches of Exquisite Events – Event decorator, planner, and coordinator to bring clients’ visions to life with a touch of elegance.
Unsung Angels – Empowering youth and communities to prevent gun violence through education, outreach, and mentorship.
MOTASTE LLC – A premium, all-natural spice blending company, offering low/no salt and sugar options.
Thrive with Purpose Consulting and Development, LLC – A consulting firm focused on increasing elementary school teacher retention rates.
AI Learning Network – Empowering businesses to leverage artificial intelligence for strategic growth and innovation.
Tailored Pieces – A lifestyle brand offering stylish and protective hair accessories.
Ghost Shipping – A secure, eco-friendly medical cannabis delivery service in St. Louis, prioritizing reliability and compliance.
Lisa Lou’s Desserts – A dessert business offering unique, handmade, and delicious treats.
Gifted Graves LLC – Offering a gentle approach to cemetery care with hand-washed headstones, bouquets, and photos.
The BALSA Foundation has been supporting St. Louis' entrepreneurs since its inception following the Ferguson protests. Our mission has always been to promote social equity and prosperity by empowering first-time entrepreneurs with the resources and support needed to start and grow their businesses. Over the last ten years, the BALSA Foundation has helped almost 250 businesses thrive, contributing to a stronger, more inclusive community.
We are incredibly proud of the entrepreneurs in this cohort and excited to see how their businesses will grow and contribute to the St. Louis economy. The next round of the BALSA Grant will open on January 1, 2025 and we look forward to continuing our work to close the racial wealth gap and empower local entrepreneurs.
We are grateful for all our supporters, mentors, judges, and partners who make this work possible. Together, we are building a brighter, more prosperous future for St. Louis.
On March 27 we celebrated our Spring 2024 BALSA Grant cohort!
We presented ten first-time entrepreneurs with the BALSA Grant: $1000 cash grants, mentorship, and networking to help their businesses get started and grow.
One of our former winners, Paris Rollins, received a $5000 follow-on grant for her business Womb 2 Birth. Congratulations Paris!
The next round of the BALSA Grant will begin on July 1, 2024.
The BALSA Foundation was honored with the 2024 What’s Right With the Region Award! Our inclusion in the Improving Equity and Inclusion category demonstrates our commitment to promoting diversity, access, inclusion and opportunity for all.
We are proud to be recognized for the work we’ve been doing over the past 10 years promoting equity and prosperity in St. Louis.
The BALSA Foundation receives the 2024 Focus St. Louis Whats Right With the Region Award!
We are delighted to announce our Spring 2021 BALSA Grant Finalists! Check out the video put together to celebrate our finalists. These fourteen first time entrepreneurs will each receive a $1000 cash grant, in-kind donations of professional services, and ongoing mentorship to help start and grow their business:
Arion Hairston, MSIO - Another Me, LLC
Arrol Howze - Survival Code Unlimited
Cherlier Willis - Krafty Kravings
Dr. Brittany Conners - Optimistic Theory, LLC
Edward Thornton - Street Genius Innovations
Elizabeth Caddell - Crafts by Beth
Emily Won - Mr. Beagles LLC
Jermar Perry - The Village PATH (Programs to Access Healing & Therapy)
Loni Hutton - Pin Point Cleaning, LLC
Monrudee Robinson - Air's soap
Passion Bragg - MenOfCode2019
Rae Mayberry - Almost Anything
Stephania Brooks - Lasting Impressions Creative Living Solutions
We are delighted to announce our Spring 2020 BALSA Grant Finalists! While we weren’t able to meet in person for the first time ever due to Covid-19, we created a video to celebrate our amazing entrepreneurs with a video and Facebook Live event. These ten first time entrepreneurs will each receive a $1000 cash grant, in-kind donations of professional services, and ongoing mentorship to help start and grow their business:
ANDREA WOODS - DOGGI O’S DOG TREATS
BRIDGETT GORDON-BILLINGSLEY - FIT-TRITIONIST LLC
CYNTHIA CHAPPLE - BLACK GIRLS DO STEM
DARNELL BROWN - SIMPLY FOSTER
ERICA KING - SHORTY MIX GOURMET COOKIES LLC
GABRIELLE BURKS - FACTS *FOR YOUR UNSOPHISTICATED GAME NIGHTS
“We’ve really focused on companies or entrepreneurs that are in the most need of our services, and by funding them we’re going to help accomplish that mission of increasing social equity and prosperity in St. Louis,” Tom Cohen, one of our founders said recently on St. Louis Public Radio
See the full interview with Tom Cohen and finalist Bryon Pearson HERE
So proud and humbled by the work of the foundation's volunteers and BALSA Grant Finalists as we celebrate 5 years of helping first-time entrepreneurs in St Louis.
$113k, 98 finalists and counting!!
Grateful to our sponsors, presenters and the community support who make our work possible. Congratulations to Thefattenedcaf and ALL of our finalists who continue to be involved with the foundation, continue to see their vision through and work and support each other!
Our Idea Supporters review business ideas of first time entrepreneurs in a critical but constructive way, and are the backbone of our Idea Support program. Idea Supporters have significant business or entrepreneurial experience and are willing to write a thoughtful review roughly once a month or two.
Select the button below to register for the 2018-2019 Idea Supporter Team!
The BALSA Foundation Summer 2018 BALSA Grant awards. Each first-time entrepreneurs will receive $1,000 in cash grants, along with professional services and mentorship to help them start and grow their business. (Sitting Left to right: Anna and Tello Carreon, Elevada LLC; Kita Quinn, 1K Digital Memories; Rachael Cross, Simply Chic Jewelry; Charlene Lopez and Darren Young, The Fattened Caf; Standing Left to right: Colleen Mulvihill, SLEDP; Aziz Traore, BALSA Foundation; Julius B. Anthony, St. Louis Black Authors of Children’s Literature; Monica Turner, Angela Byrd and DeAnna Tipton, Byrds of Expression; Whitney Jones, Transitional Homes 4 You; Shelby Farr, Luxury Body Bar; Serrita Sydnor and Alicia Cooper, Butterfly Effect G2W; Charlene Williams, C.H.A.R.M.’D; Michael Bynum, BALSA Foundation).
We are delighted to announce our Summer 2018 BALSA Grant Finalists! These ten first time entrepreneurs will each receive a $1000 cash grant, in-kind donations of professional services, and ongoing mentorship to help start and grow their business:
Julius B. Anthony, St. Louis Black Authors of Children’s Literature
Anna and Eleuterio Carreón, Elevada LLC
Rachael Cross, Simply Chic Jewelry
Shelby Farr, Luxury Body Bar
Whitney Jones, Transitional Homes 4 You
Kita Quinn, 1K Digital Memories
Serrita Sydnor, Butterfly Effect G2W
DeAnna Tipton, Byrds of Expression
Charlene Williams, C.H.A.R.M.’D.
Charlene Lopez Young, The Fattened Caf
The award ceremony featured a panel discussion with Shay Gillespie of World Wide Technology, Valerie Patton of the St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative, Gabriela Ramírez-Arellano of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; moderated by Dr. April Warren-Grice of Liberated Genius. The conversation allowed the panelists to share their WHY; why they do what they do as professionals and business owners. All three expressed the importance of believing in yourself and your idea, surrounding yourself with like minded individuals who encourage and support you and your business, building relationships and giving back to the community.
The Food Entrepreneurship event will take place at Venture Cafe 6:30-7:30pm June 7, 2018.
Join The BALSA Foundation at Venture Cafe for an informative discussion about starting a food-related business. Panelists are early-stage entrepreneurs and more advanced professionals in the food service business - manufacturing and catering.
The presentation is targeted toward first time entrepreneurs: we will cover the basics that those starting out should be aware of, and discuss available help and resources. Bring your questions!
The BALSA Foundation Spring 2018 BALSA Grant awards. Each first-time entrepreneurs will receive $1,000 in cash grants, along with professional services and mentorship to help them start and grow their business. (Sitting Left to right: Kianna Hill, Soaps by Ki; Rose Lucas representing Kathy Horry, G.I.F.T.E.D. Music Mentor Program; Myisa Whitlock, Pop Up Professionals; Wendy Todd, Carbon; Ronelle Bailey,True Wardrobe; Standing Left to right: Tom Cohen, Director; Ademola Kassim, Outreach Director, Janell Cleare, BALSA Foundation Volunteer; Gabriela Ramírez-Arellano, Business Director; Joe Monahan, Apotheosis City Project; Erica Chavez, A Dream Cleaning Company; Brittany Goldsby, Speaker Leaks; Arielle Abramzik-Travelstead, Vibrantly Mindful; Arpan Majumder, Finance Director; Aziz Traore, Executive Director).
We are delighted to announce our Spring 2018 BALSA Grant Finalists! These ten first time entrepreneurs will each receive a $1000 cash grant, in-kind donations of professional services, and ongoing mentorship to help start and grow their business:
The award ceremony featured a conversation with Jason Wilson, CEO of Northwest Coffee Roasting hosted by Dr. Cheryl Watkins Moore, Director of the BIOSTL Inclusion Initiative. The conversation covered Jason’s scrappy professional background that brought him to the success he is currently experiencing in his career, his thoughts for promoting a more diverse and inclusive Saint Louis, and how he ended up on camera handing Joe Biden a bag of coffee.
2017 has been an exciting and busy year for The BALSA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of The BALSA Group! We selected 20 first-time entrepreneurs to receive the BALSA Grant of $1,000 plus mentorship, reviewed 130 Idea support applications, and the Entrepreneur’s roadmap was downloaded 400 times. For the first time ever we partnered with the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership to award an additional $5,000 to a previous BALSA Grant recipient.
We had annual elections on September 18th and elected a new leadership team of officers and Directors - I’m delighted to be the third Executive Director of this organization! We also merged with the East St. Louis Initiative, a student run venture supporting small-scale businesses and entrepreneurs in East St. Louis. This new venture will allow us to work with underserved entrepreneurs in East St. Louis more effectively while providing targeted consulting services to past BALSA Grant finalists.
2018 promises to be even more exciting! We start the year with the 7th BALSA Grant, and are accepting applications January 1 - 15. The new leadership team will build on past success to improve our programs and provide support to underserved entrepreneurs in our region.
With best wishes for a safe, joyful and prosperous 2018--
Aziz Traore, Executive Director of The BALSA Foundation"
The BALSA Foundation’s East St. Louis Initiative (ESLI) held it's 3rd Annual Pitch Competition on October 27th, 2017. Nine entrepreneurs from the Greater St. Louis area (including 4 from East St. Louis) participated in the competition, representing local entrepreneurial ventures in industries ranging from retail, human resources, healthcare, and nonprofit. A panel of 3 experienced judges voted for the best pitches on the basis of the robustness of the ideas and the opportunity for ESLI to add value, and selected four entrepreneurs to receive six months of pro bono consulting services from teams of Washington University’s graduate business students. This consulting engagement will aid entrepreneurs in furthering their ventures, with expertise in areas such as strategy, finance, marketing, business development, legal and nonprofit management, free of any charges.
ESLI's 2017-2018 cohort (winners of the Pitch Competition) are:
Diabetes Education Augmenting Lifestyles-Center and Clinic, or DEAL-C2, focused on providing diabetes education to diabetic patients in underserved communities
Franklin Staffing Solutions, a temporary employment agency focused on helping the East St. Louis community
Ladybits, a personal care firm that provides all-natural, probiotic moisturizers for women
Tendresse and Sage, a handmade soap company based out of East St. Louis
From left to right: Ademola Kassim (judge); Sonia Deal, DEAL-C2; Wyatt Gutierrez (judge); Stanley Franklin, Franklin Staffing Solutions; Grace Griffin and daughter, Tendresse and Sage; Alicia Lohmar, Ladybits Toiletries; Devon Graham (judge).
We're delighted to announce our merger with the East St. Louis Initiative, a student run venture supporting small-scale businesses and individual entrepreneurs in the underserved community of East St. Louis. The venture shall now be known as the BALSA Foundation’s East St. Louis Initiative.
The East St. Louis Initiative was founded in 2015 by students from the Olin Business School and the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, to support small-scale businesses and individual entrepreneurs in the underserved community of East St. Louis. ESLI offers entrepreneurs the support of 2-3 member student consulting teams over a 4-6 month timeframe with a wide variety of expertise in areas of business, finance, marketing, legal and nonprofit management, free of charge.
The BALSA Foundation is a volunteer-run organization founded in 2014 as the philanthropic arm of the BALSA Group, a student-run consulting organization. The BALSA Foundation’s mission is to promote social equity and prosperity in the St. Louis region by empowering first-time entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses. We fulfill this mission by (1) maintaining an online, step-by-step guide to starting a business, (2) providing free feedback from experts to anyone with a business idea, (3) providing cash grants, mentorship, and donations of professional services to first time entrepreneurs who need and will benefit from them the most.
The BALSA Foundation’s East St. Louis Initiative will continue the work of serving East St. Louis entrepreneurs with focused consulting services while taking advantage of the BALSA Foundation's network and expertise.
We invite entrepreneurs from the East St. Louis area to participate in our 2017 Annual Pitch Competition. The Pitch Competition provides entrepreneurs a stage to pitch their idea to a panel of experienced judges, and the opportunity to win attractive cash prizes. Up to 5 entrepreneurs will be offered the services of a team of business consultants from the MBA program at Washington University, who will work with the selected entrepreneurs for up to 6 months to realize clearly defined business goals, free of charge.
The competition will be held on Friday, Oct 27, at the Skandalaris Center at Washington University in St. Louis. For more details and updates, please clickhere. All interested entrepreneurs are requested to reach out to esliapplication@gmail.com.
The BALSA Foundation held its annual elections on September 18th 2017, and elected officers and directors who are passionate about helping first-time entrepreneurs in the St. Louis region start their businesses. In its three years of existence, more than 700 for first-time entrepreneurs have taken advantage of programs put together by the BALSA Foundation. More specifically, 57 BALSA Grant finalists have received over $55,000 in cash grants, over $90,000 in professional services, and countless hours of personalized mentorship and assistance. Many of the former officers will play a role in the Board of Directors and remain engaged. The new leadership team, made up entirely of part-time volunteers, will work tirelessly to implement programs geared towards entrepreneurs in communities that need it the most.
The new officers are: Arpan Majumder (Finance Director); Mark Katerberg (Technology Director); Gabriela Ramirez-Arellano (Business Director) and Aziz Traore (Executive Director).
“I am proud and excited to be a part of this organization because of the work it does at the grass-root level” says Aziz Traore the new Executive Director. “Entrepreneurship can be a powerful weapon in improving the economy, prosperity and overall well-being of an entire region. But for that to happen for everyone especially those in under-resourced communities, it is crucial to lower barriers to entry in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The previous leadership team has done a tremendous job in realizing this vision and we hope to deliver on that mission.”
AZIZ TRAORE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Aziz is the Executive Director of the BALSA Foundation and a Senior Scientist at MilliporeSigma working on the development of tissue chips to study drug safety and toxicity. Born and raised in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, Aziz moved to the United States to pursue his education in Engineering in 2005. He received both his Bachelors and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech before moving to Washington University in St. Louis for his postdoctoral studies in Biomedical Engineering. Aziz believes in the power of entrepreneurship and the positive impact entrepreneurs can have on the economic growth and prosperity of an entire region. He is a strong proponent of increased access and participation in the St. Louis entrepreneurial ecosystem by lowering barriers to entry. He also serves in Board of Directors of the Balsa Foundation.
ARPAN MAJUMDER, FINANCE DIRECTOR
Arpan is the Finance Director of the BALSA Foundation, and a graduate business student in the Olin Business School at the Washington University in St. Louis. Born and raised in Kolkata, India, Arpan graduated as a mechanical engineer and went on to work in management and business development roles in major multi-national corporations. Arpan's love for the city of St. Louis brought him to be associated with the East St. Louis Initiative (ESLI), a student run body that aids individual entrepreneurs from the underserved community of East St. Louis. His association with the BALSA Foundation began with the successful completion of ESLI's merger with BALSA. Arpan's motivation for driving financial operations at BALSA stems from a belief that stability and predictability of operations will move the BALSA Foundation towards its goal of providing every individual with equal opportunities to succeed.
MARK KATERBERG, TECHNOLOGY DIRECTOR
Mark is the Technology Director of the BALSA Foundation and a software developer at Slalom Consulting where he specialized in front-end web development. He is a transplant from Grand Rapids, Michigan and has received his degree in Economics from the University of Minnesota. Working to help shape a city that encourages its citizens to grow their skills regardless of institutional setbacks is a passion for Mark. He supports STL Women Techmakers, the STL Techies Project, and other St Louis organizations that work for social change.
GABRIELA RAMÍREZ-ARELLANO, BUSINESS DIRECTOR
A native of Guanajuato, México, Gabriela Ramírez-Arellano has spent the last few years helping entrepreneurs and small businesses expand and gain access to capital and opportunities for growth. She earned a bachelor of science in Marketing from the University of Missouri-Columbia and an MBA from Lindenwood University. After graduation she moved to Michigan, where she raised her family and found her voice for helping the community build economic strength through financial literacy, entrepreneurship and education. With over two decades of nonprofit experience, Gabriela has specialized in assisting organizations develop strategic plans to reach their marketing and outreach goals. Now back in St. Louis, she continues to help small business owners as the business counselor at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and was recently named by the St Louis Business Journal one of the top 100 people to know to succeed in business. Gabriela and her husband own Don Emiliano's Restaurante Mexicano in O'Fallon, MO and she is active on the board of the Balsa Foundation, The University of Missouri Extension and recently joined the board of Fontbonne University.
