Jay Bailey With Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio. Brought to you by On pay. Atlanta’s new standard in payroll. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:25] 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, Onpay. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have Jay Bailey. He’s president and CEO at Russell Innovation Center for entrepreneurs. Welcome, Jay.

Jay Bailey: [00:00:45] Hey, Lee. Good to be here, brother, on this beautiful, uh, man, I don’t even know what day of the week it is.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:50] It’s it’s it’s a cold winter day.

Jay Bailey: [00:00:53] No doubt. Good to be here, bro.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:54] Well, for the folks who aren’t familiar, can you share a little bit about Russell? How you serving folks?

Jay Bailey: [00:01:00] So, you know, it’s we’re a bit of a nonprofit unicorn story. Just four years ago, we we sat at a zero budget as a real startup, nonprofit organization with a gutted out building. But we are the largest center in the world dedicated to growing, scaling, and developing black businesses in honor of one of the greatest entrepreneurs Atlanta has ever produced, the great Herman J. Russell Senior, we service or serve about 360 entrepreneurs full time that are enrolled in our continuum of learning we call big ideas. We touch about 10,000 annually through our network, and over the past two and a half years, our entrepreneurs have contributed over $450 million of new economic value to the metro Atlanta region. But we’re just getting started. And that’s the exciting part about what we’re doing now.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:45] One of the things I was at your website, and one of the things that I thought was very impactful, and I’m sure this was done in a very mindful manner, but in order to kind of be part of rice, you say become a stakeholder. Why was it important for you to use that language?

Jay Bailey: [00:02:03] Um, I think that we lose GDP every year because the brilliant ideas that reside on the south side of the tracks of every city in America, and especially Atlanta, never reached the marketplaces. They don’t believe they belong. Our goal was to create a space of deep belonging for the entrepreneurs we support. So more than just a cohort, more than just a member, more than just any other name, we wanted to choose a name for the people that we serve that made them undergird self esteem, self confidence, belief, but most of all belonging as a stakeholder. They are a part of the magic that we’re creating and we don’t graduate people out. So therefore they’re a part of a continuous community, collaborative community. And so the name indicates the very intentional approach that we take towards here. You belong here. Your ideas matter here. Everything is possible here. You can show up as your authentic self because you are a stakeholder.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:59] Now when you’re using the words entrepreneur, are you only dealing with kind of like tech entrepreneurs? Is it any business? Is it industry agnostic? How are you kind of defining the terms of, you know, this business owner?

Jay Bailey: [00:03:15] Industry agnostic. I think that that we have a couple of verticals that we’ll get and continue to grow, that I think will be very powerful, uh, to get specific. But we are we’re not a tech incubator or a tech accelerator. I think traditionally many of the main street businesses that have grown up out of nothing out of Atlanta are charging forward. Our corporate clientele. I mean, chick fil A was not a tech business, neither was UPS. But there was a small businesses that grew and have scale and now have thousands upon thousands of employees. How can we help that business that will stay in a community, create jobs in that community, stabilize that community, and bring hope to that community? And oftentimes when we’re talking about business empowerment or business support, those businesses get left out. And but it does not say that we can’t also help tech companies. And I think that the ecosystem that we’ve created partnered with companies and organizations like ATV and Atdc, the technologists of color, uh, we have support systems for tech entrepreneurs as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:14] Now, um, what type of entrepreneur can get involved at Russell? Are they can they just have an idea? Can they be an aspiring entrepreneur? Or somebody maybe is frustrated at their job and wants a way out, or do they have to kind of have a semi baked, uh, ongoing entity.

Jay Bailey: [00:04:31] You know, at the very genesis of what we wanted to become, that was the story. How could we support that very person that you articulated that was frustrated at the job? They had an idea but just didn’t know how to start. But also on that very same campus, in that same ecosystem, how can we have a company that’s doing 30 million in revenue and is trying to get to 50 or 100? Uh, we stole the HBCU model, historically black colleges and universities where, yes, I could have a lowly freshman that knows nothing. But on that very same campus, I got a PhD student who may go on to lead research that changes the world, but they’re all in the same campus and they feed one another. Uh, it’s the same model that we have. And with our big ideas platform, inspire, develop, execute, accelerate scale based on what you’ve done, where you are in your journey as an entrepreneur or a business owner, we’re able to place you in an appropriate stage that allows you to grow at a pace that also gives credit to the work that you put in, or the work that you must do to go forward.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:30] Now, I think, uh, do you think that Atlanta is kind of uniquely qualified to have a center like yours, uh, because of the diverse diversity? First number one, uh, in the city, but also the diversity of the economy. This isn’t like a one industry town. There’s a lot of different industries here. So a person could scale quickly. They could, you know, partner with an enterprise level organization in a variety of industries. Um, do you think that Atlanta is kind of built for this?

Jay Bailey: [00:06:04] Well, make no mistake, I think that Atlanta has the opportunity to be the most consequential city of the next 100 years. We have the colleges, we’ve got the corporations, uh, we’ve got the community. We’ve got the culture. And Atlanta’s a pretty cool city. And so now Atlanta has more black enrolled college students than any other city in the planet. But I also love our city enough to be honest with it. We’re still the worst city in the country when it comes to income inequality. We’re the worst city in the country when it comes to economic mobility. And if we’re afraid to have a conversation about race, we’re being intellectually disingenuous in our approach to try to move the needle. Uh, when you start talking about revenue generation, job creation, wealth and economics in this city, it skews towards the north side of the city. Um, if we empower that south side of I-20, uh, where black neighborhoods are, where black thinkers and ideators are, where black businesses reside, to grow from that one employee to five, that five employees to 20, that 20 to 50, that 50 to 100. It works for everybody. I think that with a city like Atlanta, whose population teeters between 48 to 52% black, but we only contribute to about 8% of the economic growth if we actually multiply that number. If we go from 8 to 15%, you start to see Atlanta fully realize its potential. And that’s why we’re here.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:26] So what do you need more of? How can we help you? Do you need more entrepreneurs that raise their hand and say, I want to become a stakeholder at Russell? Um, do you need more corporate involvement? Uh, what do you need?

Jay Bailey: [00:07:37] You know, we’re a new organization. We’ve had a lot of wins. You know, we have a 486 person waiting list currently, and we’re growing to the speed of making sure we have smart growth goals. We’ll be bringing on another 150 to 200 entrepreneurs, uh, in Q1 of next year. But it shows like this to get the word out about what we’re doing. We’ve not been doing this all that long. If you discount the time during the global pandemic where we were just reimagining who we could even be or what the world may look like at the back end of it, um, you know, if you counted all, all love, we’ve been doing it for about 26 to 28 months, but we’ve been able to have some tremendous successes in that time. And from getting the word about out about who we are and what we do, um, to talk to other corporations that may want to get involved, uh, we continue to have needed resources in a lot of areas, but I can tell you that our momentum has been incredible in these past three years.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:34] But if you have such a large waiting list, what more could we do to help you scale faster?

Jay Bailey: [00:08:40] Well, I think scaling faster isn’t always the answer. Um, I think building a program that is sustainable is probably the goal. And, you know, certainly we could open our doors to everybody, but we we have the infrastructure to actually support them the way that they needed to be supported, to have the touches needed to actually help a business truly grow. Uh, and I think that’s part of our methodology. And looking at how can we make sure that the entrepreneurs that entrust us with their hopes, dreams and aspirations, we’re able to connect them to the resources, the access, the opportunities necessary for them to meet their growth goals. So, you know, our goal is to get to 1000 entrepreneurs, and we’re going to get there. Lee. But I think part of any new business, you know, growing smart is probably the key, not just fast.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:26] Now, what more could we be doing north of I-20 if we were a business leader? What more can we be doing to help you Pierce intentionality.

Jay Bailey: [00:09:36] Um, our organization spends more with black businesses than most fortune 1000. Um, you know, every organization that you know or could name has an annual spend. Every organization that you know, or that you could name has a board of directors. Uh, all of these things around, when you look at your balance sheet and I’m not just talking about dollars, how much of that pie is, is leveraged with businesses that exist that may not look like your typical business? I think that, you know, if you come to the Russell Center, everything from the watch I’m wearing, the shirt I’m wearing, uh, the water I’m drinking, the chips that I’m eating, the low voltage, the AV, uh, the architect, the general contractor, all the customary, uh, stakeholders that we support. Um, I think that businesses grow not just by raising money, but the customers that they have. How and in what way are organizations north of I-20 being intentional with their dollar, where they spend? How do they look outside their typical network to support? And oftentimes this is not charity work. This is not this is not some paternalistic let’s help the folks on the South side know their businesses that are ready for opportunities at the next level, enterprise level opportunities. But because they’re not a part of certain networks, they never get those opportunities. I think the only difference between Bankhead and Buckhead is access, opportunity and exposure. That’s what folks north of I-20 can help with, and I never want to see it as, uh, we have to help black businesses. No, no, we have to look at what was best for Atlanta’s economy. And by looking at an ecosystem that is, it has some level of equity and some level of intentionality to write, write, raise all boats. I think we all win.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:20] Yeah. And I think we have to move from I have to to I want to. Um, and if I want to support black owned businesses is Russell helped me identify then help me vet support.

Jay Bailey: [00:11:34] 360 of them. And we have about 10,000 in our network. And you know it has to go one more step. Be beyond just I want to, I need to. You can’t show me one balance sheet in Atlanta that without black consumers that could exist in this marketplace, that it could exist for another six months, be it Coca-Cola, be it Home Depot, be it chick fil A, uh, the sheer numbers and the data support. The black dollars actually drive the economy in the metro Atlanta region. And so it only makes sense. And this is not about an emotional plea. I’m looking at it like an economist would, that there’s the opportunity to actually move our city forward economically, if we’re a little bit more intentional about how we look at going forward together.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:23] Now, if I am a business owner and I want to get involved, or I want to get on that wait list, uh, how do I go about doing that? And is is there anything for me while I wait to get into the building to get the education I need? There are two.

Jay Bailey: [00:12:38] Ways. So we host an info session twice a year that you must attend to be eligible to apply. We don’t do rankings as far as we take the ten best companies, the 20 best companies. We select companies based on our ability to serve them. Um, but also one of the things that we’re employing next year is a team of technical assistance managers that even if we’re not able to take you on as a full time stakeholder, you’ll still have access to resources that can help you grow your business. So folks that you can ask questions, folks that have access to support networks, or just someone to give you some strategic ways forward, uh, those will be available to anybody that comes, uh, and some digital products that we’re going to unleash in 2024 that will expand our reach even far beyond our walls.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:24] And then if I’m one of those businesses north of I-20 and I want to get involved, maybe mentor, maybe support, maybe buy from some of the businesses you mentioned, what’s the best way to do that?

Jay Bailey: [00:13:36] You know, just reach out to us info at Russell Center org. Um, you know, follow us on LinkedIn. Follow me on LinkedIn. Ask the question and connecting that way. And if there’s interest to get involved in any of the ways that you name. Uh, it’s just about like everything else about building relationships. And that same dynamic exists if companies on the South want to get involved with companies on the north side of the tracks. Our mission was never to build a moat around the building, to say no people were. People were excluded. Our real goal is to look at building an infrastructure that allowed us to build bridges to networks and access that some businesses on the South Side never would have without that bridge, without that institution to support their growth. And so yeah, man, the same thing applies to how businesses on the South reach businesses in the North. It’s it’s the willingness to reach out, uh, and the intentionality to see how we could go and do about do business in a different way.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:32] And if somebody wants to learn more about the Russell Center, what’s a website?

Jay Bailey: [00:14:36] Yeah. Russell center.org. Russell center.org.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:41] Well Jay thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Jay Bailey: [00:14:46] Only.

Jay Bailey: [00:14:46] I certainly appreciate the time my friend.

Jay Bailey: [00:14:48] Thank you. All right.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:49] This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you next time on Atlanta Business Radio.