MORTAR
Helping Historically Marginalized Entrepreneurs Start, Sustain and Scale Thriving Businesses
Fast Facts
Cincinnati, OH
Ken Inadomi
2020, 2022-23, 2024, 2025
Training, Job Creation
How MORTAR Is Making a Difference
MORTAR’s goal is to address economic inequity on a broad scale by launching and supporting enterprises that create jobs and circulate dollars locally.
To accomplish this goal, MORTAR established its Entrepreneurship Academy to help existing and aspiring entrepreneurs of color learn business management skills. MORTAR also assists with access to funding and supports pop-up locations for businesses.
MORTAR offers its curriculum on-line to broaden its reach into additional cities, support businesses run by minority entrepreneurs and benefit the communities where businesses are located.
What MORTAR Does
- Offers an in-person and on-line business curriculum in the language and style of the populations served.
- Aims to support women entrepreneurs, who make up two-thirds of course participants.
- Selects people of color who understand the business environment as teachers.
- Segments on-line training into levels based on participant needs: Tier 1 on core business fundamentals, and Tier 2 on advanced training, industry-specific resources, and interactive mentorship opportunities.
- Mentors alumni to be a source of ongoing support for program graduates as they develop and run their businesses and social enterprises.
- Fosters a sense of community to provide ongoing support for entrepreneurs facing challenging and often lonely pursuits.
Initiatives Supported by Project Redwood
2020: $30,000 to support the proposed expansion of the Entrepreneurship Academy course into a tiered digital platform, covering research, development, design, and implementation efforts.
2022-23: $25,000 to continue the conversion of MORTAR’s in-person curriculum into a tiered digital platform accessible to minority, marginalized, and low-to moderate-income entrepreneurs nationwide.
2024: $50,000 to further the development of MORTAR’s tiered online learning program, providing a portion of staff salaries and consultant fees for updating databases and creating content for videos, webinars, documents and an online textbook.
2025: $40,000 to support the full implementation of MORTAR’s Online Learning Platform, making its proven, impactful curriculum available in an accessible, digital-first format that allows MORTAR to increase its offerings going forward with scalable platform enhancements.