Breaking Barriers: Transforming Disability into Opportunity Through Business

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by Kennesaw State University’s Executive MBA program, the accelerated degree program for working professionals looking to advance their career and enhance their leadership skills. And now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, CSU’s executive MBA program. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have a return guest, Aarti Sahgal. She is the founder and CEO of Synergies Work and Synergies Seed Fund. Welcome.

Aarti Sahgal: Thank you. Thank you for getting me back here.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to get updated. For folks who aren’t familiar, can you share a little bit about the mission purpose behind Synergy’s work?

Aarti Sahgal: The Synergies Work is a nonprofit organization, and our mission is to build one world where people with disabilities belong. And we do this by through entrepreneurship. Um, because many of very often people with disabilities are excluded from opportunities and their talents are not seen. We only see what is less than and never what is there. So we flip that script. We provide resources, mentorship, and access to capital so that they can launch, grow and scale their businesses. And that’s why we’ve created Synergy Seed Fund, which is the first nonprofit non-depository community development financial institution providing loans to small business owners. So because without access to capital. Businesses can’t grow.

Lee Kantor: So how did that come about? Was that just organic growth amongst the folks you serve? That there was a desire for pursuing this type of entrepreneurial path, and then there just wasn’t a financing behind it.

Aarti Sahgal: So we know that there is there is talent in this space. But what we also know that there are many barriers to success for people with disabilities, and that includes people who have low or moderate income levels. Research has shown that entrepreneurs with the who belonged in this category do not have that high rates of success. So we need to close that gap to give everybody a fair chance and level the playing field. That was a gap that needed to be built. Believe me, I did not start Synergy Seed Fund with the intention of ever wanting to form a financial organization and get into the space, but there wasn’t anybody else doing it. We do not have people stepping in and closing this wealth gap. The capital that is needed, the capital gap. So that’s why we had to step in and say, okay, this needs to be done. We need to provide capital for businesses to grow. Um, most of the people with disabilities, even today, uh, let alone entrepreneurs with disabilities, are, uh, unbanked and underbanked. Um, just imagine a scenario if you have two founders, one with disability and one without disability, walking into a bank, I presume the banker looks at the person without disability as a potential and the person with a disability as a risk. And we want to change that conversation.

Lee Kantor: So, um, so how did you go about like, what were the baby steps you needed to take to make that into a reality.

Aarti Sahgal: For Synergy Seed Fund?

Lee Kantor: Yeah. Because, I mean, that seems like a big lift.

Aarti Sahgal: Well, it has been 2 to 3 year mission. We have been researching this space for a long time. We have been working with consultants in understanding this. We have got grants now from Truist Foundation, from CSOs Foundation, from the Cdfi Loan Fund to help us set out the basic structure. And now in this in the last few months, we have just started rolling out, uh, the first few grants to founders, uh, in the space. So it is still a heavy lift, believe me.

Lee Kantor: So what is the kind of the criteria? How does somebody, um, you know, apply for this?

Aarti Sahgal: Well, they can apply to us. We have an open applications rolling systems happening currently on the website. Um, and what we are looking for, uh, in the individual is not just the credit scores. Uh, that’s not how we are working on it. What we’re looking for Campau is looking at their business strength and going beyond, uh, the credit score of the individual. So, uh, out of synergies, work, working with founders with disabilities, we realized that many of them did not have the capital, the money to grow their businesses. They had so much of, um, you know, they were borrowing heavily from their on their credit cards or they did not have the reserves that many of us take for granted, or relying on them or on our friends and family to put in that seed capital. Um, and so they were making some financial decisions which were not healthy in the long run for themselves or their businesses. Uh, so that’s where the Synergy Seed Fund has come in, which is, uh, allowing people and their interest rate at which we are providing the loans are very minimal. They’re not the predatory kind of, uh, interest rates. It’s prime plus one. But what we’re looking at is the business of the individual, uh, Not just the credit scores.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, here at Business RadioX, we do a lot of work in the startup community, and there’s lots of accelerators and incubators, um, in a variety of forms, um, here in Atlanta. And a lot of what they give people, um, is kind of that financial business kind of help. Is there any of that as part of this as well?

Aarti Sahgal: I, I would like to know more about what you’re trying to. I’m, I’m, I’m not understanding the question.

Lee Kantor: Well, are you just providing.

Aarti Sahgal: The funding if that’s what you’re.

Lee Kantor: Are you just are you just funding or are you helping kind of with business, um, strategy, marketing? Are you helping with help in that area as well, or is it just I’m coming in here. I’m applying to get money. Thank you for the money. And now I go back to what I was doing.

Aarti Sahgal: No, no, no, that’s not how we have approached this space, so we have built an entire ecosystem. So started with Synergies Work, which is a business accelerator. Education part of the ecosystem providing the know how the mentors, the resources to founders. And then from there we are providing them the capital, which is the Synergy Seed Fund. But the third important pillar in our strategy of bringing that ecosystem has been also building a community. Because I do believe that many this is entrepreneurship is really a team sport. And many people with disabilities, for whatever reasons, get isolated very early in life. Um, you know, under the garb of special education and special programs. And that’s the reason that community and networks that other entrepreneurs might take for granted do not exist for this community. So our big chunk and focus has been on how do we create that community, similarly to what you are saying, how do we bring the larger ecosystem of startups and other accelerators to also come into the space and see the talent that exists there? It’s about building that, and that is where The Eddy Awards that we are hosting on 25th September come into play. Um, it is yes. To spotlight the talent of the entrepreneurs with disabilities across the nation, but also to bring in the business community, uh, bring in the change makers, with and without disabilities into one space so that they can see the talent that exists here.

Lee Kantor: And then. Okay, so let’s talk about the Eddy Awards. Uh, tell us about kind of how that came about. You wanted to spotlight some of the people doing a kind of exceptional things. Um, but what, like what’s an example of some of the award winners you’ve had in the past?

Aarti Sahgal: Yeah. The reason why we started Eddy’s Eddy’s is really entrepreneurs dedicated to diverse and inclusive excellence, and it is to celebrate disability innovation. And the reason behind it is really closing that gap that exists between the business community and the disability community, staying very true to the purpose of why we exist. So it allows us to bring that build that visibility, the networks and resources for founders who are often overlooked. And I can sit here and I see it every day. We witness it in front of our eyes. That innovation and talent. But my thing is not the same thing as some VCs walking into the room, or bankers, or the business leaders and change makers coming in and seeing for themselves what that innovation looks like. So that was the idea behind starting Eddy Awards. And as for who has been in the winner’s circle? Well, uh, there have been people who are, uh, musicians. There are technology folks who are changing what they do. They’re artists. They are story writers. They are, um, um, people who are borrowers, you know, the local brick and mortar, uh, mortar businesses, all of them. You will find them here. Attorneys who are doing some innovative work, uh, you’ll find, um, on this panel because there are five awards on which we ask for applications from across the nation, from technology, uh, creativity, social impact, um, new business, and then the community awards. So under each of these categories, there is a diversity of businesses, and there is a diversity of disabilities that get highlighted.

Lee Kantor: So each of the the award winners are led by somebody with disabilities.

Aarti Sahgal: Abilities or yes, they are the founders of these businesses. They are. This is not about somebody else, uh, leading that business. They are the prime owners of these businesses. And that’s the criteria of for us as an organization. Also, all the businesses that we funnel through synergies work. Uh, you have to be a person with or self-identify yourself as a person with a disability.

Lee Kantor: And then with synergies, work, um, and then that entity, you’re helping people with disabilities get work and to pursue entrepreneurism, if that’s what they choose.

Aarti Sahgal: Not work. Uh, we are only a business accelerator.

Lee Kantor: So it’s only for people pursuing their own kind of venture.

Aarti Sahgal: That’s right.

Lee Kantor: And, um, so this is a this is a, um, a personal A journey for you. Do you want to share a little bit about what got you involved in this?

Aarti Sahgal: Yeah. I am a mom and I have two sons. My youngest son has down syndrome, and, um, that’s what changed my life’s direction from being an advertising and marketing. I got into understanding, uh, the disability world because, um, there are two worlds that exist even today. One for people with disabilities and one without disabilities. And I wanted to understand why that difference exists. So I’ve spent the past 18 years working in the disability community as a consultant, first to a state organization, Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities here, and other organizations, and then realizing that entrepreneurship is not something that anybody is looking at intentionally, uh, opening doors. And we know that in this in our country, entrepreneurship is, um, the fuel of the economy. Uh, and yet, uh, people with disabilities were, uh, are still not encouraged. They’re still not capital coming to them, whether through VCs or through small business loans. And so that’s been my life’s mission to close that gap. My son, who is 25 today, uh, when he was born, we were told that he would not walk or talk. Um, he is a senior at Georgia State University and he himself runs two businesses. One of them is a tech business, and he was the first person with down syndrome to go through, uh, Techstars Atlanta social impact. Uh, so, yeah, I think what is required is, uh, raising the bar and leveling the playing field for folks.

Lee Kantor: So for folks who want to get involved, what is the website? What is the best way to connect?

Aarti Sahgal: Yes. Please visit uh synergy’s. Work.org or Synergy’s fund.org. And most importantly come to the Eddie Awards. We still have 15 days to the event. Come and see for yourself what disability innovation is. Um, because I firmly believe that every innovation event is rooted in the margins. It will lift the center. So today, whether we are talking about voice to text or touch screens or curb cuts, they are all rooted in the disability community. So if we want the economy to improve, it’s not about charity at all. It is about lifting the center.

Lee Kantor: Well, Artie, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Aarti Sahgal: Thank you so much for your time and inviting me here today.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.