Alfa Demmellash, co-founder and CEO of Jersey City headquartered Rising Tide Capital, was recently chosen to be one of the 2014 BALLE Local Economy Fellows. Rising Tide Capital is a non-profit organization providing entrepreneurship training programs in New Jersey, specifically Jersey City, and other distressed New Jersey communities including the City of Orange Township, Union City, and Newark.
BALLE, Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, chose 17 Fellows this year from all across North America. As stated on the organization’s web site, each of the 17 Fellows were selected “based on their vision, their leadership, and their role as strategic connectors of thousands of community entrepreneurs. Whether leading local social enterprise incubators, community business networks, or regional food labs, they are all pioneering champions for a new economic vision.”
Among the transformative practices for communities that BALLE hosts are a Local Economy Funders Circle, the Community Foundation Circle, and the nation’s only Fellowship program dedicated to cultivating the emergence of a new economy.
Alfa Demmellash, an entrepreneur herself, co-founded Rising Tide Capital in 2004. The organization’s mission is to support and assist small business owners in marginalized populations to either start or expand a business. Demmellash and her team have helped many poorly skilled prospective entrepreneurs in creating sustainable businesses. Rising Tide views their support of local businesses as critical to increasing economic growth that will uplift distressed communities.
Rising Tide Capital brings these entrepreneurs to their full potential via classroom training, mentoring and coaching. Their signature Community Business Academy is a program in which 12 weekly classes are held on Saturday mornings or evenings that provide information and hands-on training in business management and planning. Their Business Acceleration Services provides one-on-one coaching sessions helps aspiring entrepreneurs to prepare their ventures for business loans. For more information, visit Rising Tide Capital.
