Spectrum News NY1 interviewed two charismatic veteran entrepreneurs over the weekend who were recipients of the NYC Boss Up award program. The entrepreneurs, two of nine who received awards of $20,000 from Boss Up, were Serghio Adams of Brothers Building Blocks and Ron Holloway from Woofbowl.
The program was administered by FJC through a Scholarship & Award Account with funding by the Ron and Kerry Moelis Foundation. The program was a public-private partnership, organized with the NYC Department of Veterans Services (DVS) and the NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS).
Serghio Adams spoke of the impact of the program in his business, Brothers Building Blocks, which works with middle and high schools to prepare underrepresented students for careers in STEM fields. “As a small business,” said Adams, “it’s very important to ensure we are creating a larger footprint in the community. These are monies that we can inject into our companies to take our companies farther.”
Mr. Holloway agreed. “To be able to have this access to capital is invaluable,” he said. “When you’re an entrepreneur you make every dollar count, so this money will go a very long way.” Holloway’s business, Woolfbowl sells healthy fresh food for “dog foodies” with a goal to “make pet food fun and exciting.”
View a clip of the interview here.