Justine Petersen client and St. Louis resident Rochelle Bea was looking for a way to expand her child-care center located in the Walnut Park neighborhood.
And she found it. Bea recently won the Entrepreneur–Momentum Business award and a $25,000 prize at the Association for Enterprise Opportunity’s annual microfinance conference at the Chase Plaza Hotel.
Rochelle Bea, owner of Beginning Futures LLC, captivated the audience with her story about serving families and children in her community. Her unique childcare model focuses on incorporating families in the education process.
Prior to starting her own business, she served as a social worker for the Missouri Department of Social Services’ Child Abuse and Neglect Unit.
“I made decisions daily about other lives that did not sit well with me,” she said to the audience at the awards ceremony.
“I felt horrible about removing children from their homes and even more confused and torn when I left them there. I had aspirations to help others in a positive way. This is when I discovered my purpose was to build families versus dismantle them.”
When she entertained the possibilities of starting a business, she knew she wanted a learning center that built positive family relationships and offered opportunities for parental involvement and male presence. She opened Beginning Futures in December 2008, and she now serves 113 children.
Bea plans to use the award money to expand the facility because the center is “busting out at the seams,” she said.
“We are just happy to be in business,” she said. “Every day is a party because you work with kids.”
For her and her team, the day starts at 6 a.m. with childcare before school. Most of these students leave by 8:30 a.m. Then the newborns to 5-year-olds arrive, and the teachers start with a lesson.
At the center, they practice family-style dining. The children are entirely responsible for setting the tables. Children can remain at the center until 10 p.m. Hall could take a break, but she said she prefers to stay and visit with the parents.
“I like to see the parents out the door and make sure everyone is satisfied,” she said.
Bea said she learned quite a bit at the Association for Enterprise Opportunity’s microfinance conference, especially about how to network and get her name out there. The association is a national membership organization that prides itself as “the voice of microbusiness development in the United States.”
The conference hosted more than 400 microlending practitioners to discuss developing trends in the microfinance industry. A host committee led by Darlene Greene, comptroller of the City of St. Louis, planned and orchestrated the three-day event.
Justine Petersen, one of the nation’s largest small business microlenders, served as the local host for the conference. An eclectic mix of 25 local small businesses showcased their products at the small business marketplace, including businesses from the International Institute.
Will Allen, author of The Good Food Revolution and founder and CEO of Growing Power, kicked off the conference by delivering a keynote address detailing his work promoting access to fresh, affordable foods by training community members across the nation to develop urban farms.
On the last day of the conference, AEO and Citi Foundation hosted the Citi Microenterprise Awards Ceremony to honor entrepreneurs and microlending agencies that are doing exemplary work in their communities. Daymond John, founder of FUBU and star of the hit show Shark Tank, spoke about his experiences as an entrepreneur starting his business in the basement of his mother’s house to now operating a clothing empire that has done $6 billion in product sales.
The audience also heard from minority-owned startups like Bea that are doing vital work in the St. Louis community and need support.
“Beginning Futures takes pride in investing in the greatest resource ever – not coal, natural gas, nor nuclear power, but people,” Bea said at the ceremony. “I am more confident now than ever about the community Beginning Futures calls home. Beginning Futures has become a cornerstone within the Walnut Park Community.”
