Bringing Entrepreneurship Education to the Virgin Islands

Maryland Smith’s Tricia Homer didn’t let a pandemic stop her from bringing entrepreneurship education home to her native U.S. Virgin Islands. In July, Homer, the director of business communication for Smith’s master’s programs and a faculty lecturer, ran a startup bootcamp program for social entrepreneurs. She’s holding a second program in November. 

“We’re teaching Virgin Islanders what social entrepreneurship is and how they should approach launching a social venture,” Homer says. “A challenge we face is that people are really passionate about fixing social issues, but they don’t have the business acumen and the tools to address the problems.” 

Homer worked with SEEDSPOT, an internationally renowned incubator with a mission to educate, accelerate, and invest in entrepreneurs who are creating solutions to social problems. The organization works with community organizers to launch local programs using SEEDSPOT’s startup curriculum and tools that help entrepreneurs develop or refine their impact-driven businesses.

Homer learned about the organization through Maryland Smith’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship when a board member ran a SEEDSPOT program in Washington, D.C. And she kept hearing about it: SEEDSPOT leaders have also been guest speakers in Maryland Smith classes, and CEO C’pher Gresham has taught social enterprise courses at the University of Maryland. Homer thought a SEEDSPOT program would be perfect to help the community where she grew up.

“I’m from the Virgin Islands and for me, being in the States is really about wanting to make an impact at home,” she says. “For me and many Virgin Islanders in the diaspora, my professional experience up here is ultimately about how can I transfer the skills that I’m learning to make a change in my community? I feel blessed and privileged to be able to be on the faculty at Maryland Smith and launch something that takes my skills and expertise and shares it with people back at home.”

She applied for and was awarded a grant from the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands and recruited a local organizing team to help launch and co-facilitate the program.

The program was supposed to happen in person, during one weekend in March 2020, but the pandemic forced Homer and her team to regroup. Instead, they were able to present four sessions over two weeks in July, virtually, to a group of 24 entrepreneurs, more than half of whom were women.

“I think we were able to reach more people because it was virtual,” she says.

During the live Zoom sessions, Homer and her team shared a framework and process for how you approach social change and tackle community problems from a business perspective. Homer was able to recruit 22 mentors with a wide variety of business backgrounds to engage and support the entrepreneurs.

“It was great community-building, where people got to meet other people that they didn’t know, or even people that they’ve seen around in the community but never had a chance to connect with one-on-one,” she says.

The program culminated with a pitch night, where the entrepreneurs shared their business ideas.

It’s still early to see the long-term impacts of the program, but Homer says some entrepreneurs are already working on their projects and others have joined forces to work together.

“It was great to see all the young and old entrepreneurs of our community focused on making their dreams a reality,” said one participant. “This is the positive energy and support system that our community needs.”

It went so well that Homer is running the program again in November for another crop of entrepreneurs.

Homer says this is a passion project for her, and personally, the best outcome of being isolated at home because of the pandemic.

“To be able to be here in the United States but still offer something to help inspire and motivate Virgin Islanders to make a difference at home has been so rewarding.”