This past Fall, Marcus Washington had an idea to help other local entrepreneurs. When he’s not creating new products to sell through his own branded merchandise company, Young & Filthy, a hip-hop lifestyle brand, he’s making art, launching events, and looking for ways to help his fellow entrepreneurs.
Marcus’ idea was to help three young entrepreneurs launch their own lifestyle brands through a three-day workshop. The workshop taught the young entrepreneurs to develop products within a brand including:
Basics of branding and product development
Design, production, and market research for branded products
Marketing strategy including website, social media, and a video/photo shoot.
To support this workshop idea, Marcus applied for and received an Entrepreneurship Event Seed Funding Grant from the Innovation Lab. Once he received funding, Marcus invited young entrepreneurs of color in Dubuque who had just started or were ready to start a business. Three entrepreneurs participated in the workshop and developed a brand, and logo, and then ordered & sold merchandise to complete the course.
“The workshop taught them to launch and begin to run their own company. I hope we can scale this workshop in the future to reach even more entrepreneurs” said Marcus after the workshop was completed.
If you have an idea for an initiative or event that supports entrepreneurship in Dubuque County, click here to find out more information and apply for seed funding.