IAM1921 – Founder and CEO Disrupting Traditional and Predatory Lending Terms

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Dr. Roshawnna Novellus Teaser 00:00

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Intro 00:32

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkness values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is to I AM CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:58

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I appreciate you listening to this episode. If you've been listening this year, you know that we hit 1600 episodes at the beginning of this year. We're doing something a little bit different where we're repurposing our favorite episodes around certain categories, topics or as I like to call them business pillars that we think are going to be extremely impactful for CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business owners, or what I like to call CB nation architects who are looking to level up their organizations.

This month, we are focused on innovation, disruption, women entrepreneurship, DEI, gig economy, remote economy, even the cannabis industry. Think about these industries and these disruptive technologies that really sometimes aren't as disruptive, but there are people that are just paying attention to what the market needs and they're providing that. So really think about the things that are quote and quote outside of the norm, but really help entrepreneurship to grow and fully develop.

I think it's an extremely exciting time when you're talking about any type of innovation or disruption, because I think that there are so many opportunities and needs that aren't felt that are starting to be filled by different groups, different organizations, or even different industries. So what I want you to do is sit back and enjoy this special episode of the I AM CEO podcast.

Hello, this is Gresh from the I Am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I've Dr. Roshawnna Novellus of EnrichHER. Dr. Roshawnna, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Dr. Roshawnna Novellus 02:23

I'm excited to be here.

Gresham Harkless 02:25

Super excited to have you on. And what I wanted to do is read a little bit more about Dr Roshawnna so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing.

Dr Roshawnna is a Founder and CEO of EnrichHER a fintech platform that is disrupting traditional and predatory lending terms through its credit model and lending environment.

EnrichHer connects revenue-generating women-led companies seeking up to 250, 000 with accredited, non-accredited and institutional lenders who want to earn cash flow while fueling the growth of women-led businesses. Dr Roshawnna served on the Commission on Women for the City of Atlanta and was honored as one of the women who means business by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

One of the 40 under 40 by Georgia trend, a house. See on fellow for social impact in one of the top 25 disruptors and innovators and tech in one of the 27 black founders and investors to watch in 2019 by PitchBook.

Dr Roshawnna, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Dr. Roshawnna Novellus 03:21

I'm ready.

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Gresham Harkless 03:23

Let's do it. You're rocking and rolling. So I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. What led you to get started with your business?

Dr. Roshawnna Novellus 03:30

Yeah. So when I was 12 years old, my mother told me that all women needed to be good at managing money and good at finance. So at that age, she started taking me with her to the investment club meetings at her school. She was a high school English teacher. And so by the age of 15, I understood money. At that point I started writing letters to different organizations, telling them about my view and my passion, and ended up raising over $600,000 to pay for my 11 years in college and my four degrees.

So fast forward when I decided to be an entrepreneur. I said, Hey, there's this huge problem with underserved founders and money. Like people don't know how to access capital. There's a lack of diversity and inclusion on the decision-maker's side on who gets capital. Why don't I do something about it? So, in 2017, I decided to reach out to 30 organizations in Atlanta and get their perspective on would there be a need in the marketplace to bring together different organizations who want to help women?

The answer was yes. And I've been running full steam ahead since then.

Gresham Harkless 04:45

Nice. I definitely appreciate that because sometimes a lot of people don't have that basis and that foundation that your mom was able to give you. And when they come across money, are they starting to get empowered or they start businesses or organizations are looking to raise funds they don't really have that awareness or know how to speak that language.

Dr. Roshawnna Novellus 05:00

Yeah, so there are many different ways to use money and programs to your advantage. And it's my mission to help as many people be able to live out their business dreams through as possible.

So that's what I'm all about.

Gresham Harkless 05:15

Nice. So, I know I touched on a little bit, can you tell us a little bit more about EnrichHER Tell us exactly like what you're doing to support the clients and all about the business?

Dr. Roshawnna Novellus 05:24

Perfect. Yeah EnrichHER helps women grow their businesses through two ways. One way is we have a network called EnrichHER Society, which provides a community for women-led businesses. We've engaged over 19, 000 people on that side. We have, in addition to the online resources and networking, in person activations as well. We're currently doing a nationwide tour in the U. S. for that particular thing. On the funding side, we have a funding platform that provides up to $250, 000 to women-led businesses in a variety of industries all the way from event planner to the wedding industry to high growth contractors to women who make doggy treats.

So someone would go to our website, fill out a pre-screen application that asks you questions about your years in business, your revenue, use of funds and then at the end of the application, we're able to match you with funding opportunities. Some of the people have received the financing in less than 48 hours through our platform. So there are direct funding opportunities on the platform and the entrepreneur also has the opportunity to do crowdfunding. This is debt-based crowdfunding.

Most people think of donations when they think of the word crowdfunding and not equity when they think of crowdfunding. But these are we offer crowdfunded loans so that people in your community can lend to your company directly through our website, and you can repay them on a monthly basis. So, with the funding option and a network option, our vision is that we provide both the capital in the community that women need to grow their companies.

Gresham Harkless 07:09

Nice. I definitely appreciate that. You might have already touched on this, but I want to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. This could be for you or your organization, but what do you feel sets you apart and makes you unique?

Dr. Roshawnna Novellus 07:20

Yeah. So our products set us apart. Most available financing options are only geared toward the high growth company or the company that has a lot of assets, which leaves like the service-based business out of option. It doesn't allow them to apply. So like hair salon and I. T. consultancy can't get a lot of financing from traditional sources. So we're definitely focusing on providing capital for businesses and all industries. This is especially important because most women actually build service-based companies and the market itself is excluding them from getting financing.

So our secret sauce now is providing this financing for all women who have cash flow, but also providing that support and community that we all need. Women really love to network with one another and support one another and navigating through the ups and downs of entrepreneurship is difficult for all of us. So we provide a safe space for that in addition to the capital.

Gresham Harkless 08:29

Nice. I appreciate that because a lot of times and just as you kind of session on, I feel like entrepreneurship is a roller coaster ride. And sometimes when you're going through maybe one of the downs, you realize and sometimes feel like you're the only one that's going through that down period.

But having that community tap into and to lean on sounds like it correct me if I'm wrong, helps out as far as helping people to understand as part of the process and propel forward and keep going. I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. This might be an app, book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Dr. Roshawnna Novellus 09:04

Well, my habit is that I do or listen to affirmations in the morning and at night every day. And so it's really important to set your energy before you go out and deal with all the energy outside of your space. So you should be in charge of how you feel. I'm really calm right now because I just didn't work out before this podcast, but it's really important to schedule your self-care and make sure you're in charge of your own energy field before you go out and have your busy day.

When you're happy and when you're positive, the people around you are happier, things tend to work out better for you and things tend to be more efficient. So it's like a hack to make things go in your favor, is to be positive, calm and happy as much as possible.

Gresham Harkless 09:59

Yeah, the saying goes that everything is energy. So just like you said, if you're able to start that day out on a very positive mindset, everything starts to propel in that same way.

I know I find this for me, but do you find that sometimes if you don't do that, then sometimes the day doesn't go as according to plan, I guess you can say, and sometimes you can look back and say, Hey, I missed doing that.

Dr. Roshawnna Novellus 10:20

Yeah, you're exactly right. Like the other day, I actually accidentally overslept by 25 minutes and I was going to skip my affirmations then I realized the last time I did that I was just irritated. I just felt like I was late the whole day. So I said, no, I'm gonna be a little bit later. I'm gonna listen to 30 minutes right now, reset my energy and then the day went fine.

Like the next something cleared off my my calendar, it opened up and everything else worked out seemingly. So I definitely try my best not to skip even if my schedule changes.

Gresham Harkless 10:57

Yeah, I'm the exact same way. It's funny that you say that because a lot of times, even though you're quote and quote behind, sometimes you need peace to understand that things are gonna fall in line. Just like you said, something pops out off the calendar. All of a sudden there needs to get it rescheduled. And now, all of a sudden, you're right back in pace and you're not off balance anymore.

Now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. This is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if you can happen to a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Dr. Roshawnna Novellus 11:30

So the best wisdom that I could share is to ask people for help and ask people with different skill sets and different expertise. Don't just ask your friends or your family. Ask people who have either done it or who you would switch places with. But at the same time, remember that you don't have to do anything that someone else did. So, especially when I was younger, I believe that everyone who gave me advice had more knowledge or more precedence than how I felt about a situation.

So, for instance, I was on LinkedIn and I was one of the LinkedIn influencers when the platform wasn't very popular like it is today. And whenever I would post an article on LinkedIn, I would get 150, 000 views or more. I spoke with a marketing expert who told me, hey, no one ever uses this platform called Linkedin. You need to stop doing this and go to Facebook instead and I listened to this person. Facebook has never ever worked for giving messages out for financial companies, it still doesn't. Now I let go of my LinkedIn status. LinkedIn now is recognized as the best platform for finance, is the platform that the most successful people engage on.

I listened to this person who told me that I didn't know what I was doing when actually I knew what I was doing before the time. So, I learned a lot from that experience about going out and finding experts yet trusting what I knew to be true at the same time.

Gresham Harkless 13:12

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And a lot of times I'm sure that marketing person probably shaking his head as well. But a lot of times it's great that you mentioned that because we already know, but sometimes we don't trust ourselves and with entrepreneurship and it being such a quote and quote lonely road and trying to make decisions, sometimes you make a decision without seeing, all the stairs or all the steps ahead.

You don't really know what's the best decision. But I think sometimes if we look within, we know or have an idea of what the answer is, and we have to listen to that intuition and that small voice we have within us.

Dr. Roshawnna Novellus 13:45

Exactly.

Gresham Harkless 13:47

Nice. Now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote and quote CEOs on this show.

So, Dr Roshanna, what does being a CEO means to you?

Dr. Roshawnna Novellus 13:59

Being a CEO means someone that can inspire other people and be a leader. And I'll touch on the inspiration part. We are a startup company, which means we had to raise capital from investors. We had to win grants before we had a track record in business that showed that we were successful. And in order to be successful at this process, we had to inspire people and let them know our vision, share our story with them.

If you're really good at those elements, you don't have to have all the proof per se to get the support that you need from others. So we were able to get support on the capital side, and we're able to get support on the human capital side in terms of people volunteering to be part of our team over and over again. We've had over 30 people raise their hand and say, Hey, I want to help you make your vision come true. And I think that to be an effective CEO. People have to believe in you and believe in your ability to lead and inspire others.

Gresham Harkless 15:10

Absolutely. Yeah. And being able to have that vision and be able to see the forest for the trees and to get a team in place to roll that boat, towards whatever that vision might be is huge.

So I appreciate that perspective and that definition as well. Dr Roshawnna, I appreciate your time even more, what I wanted to do was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know. And then, of course, how best people can get ahold of you.

Dr. Roshawnna Novellus 15:34

I would just encourage you to apply for funding or join our community. So if you are revenue generating business, have been in business for over an year. Feel free to go to our website and apply to see if we can finance you.

Our website is enrichher.com and you can follow us at IEnrichHER on all social media platforms. And that's about it.

Gresham Harkless 15:57

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And just to clarify, you don't have to be located in any specific area to apply correct?

Dr. Roshawnna Novellus 16:04

U. S. Only.

Gresham Harkless 16:05

U. S. Only. Okay, perfect. And we'll make sure to have the link to the website and all the social media platforms in the show notes as well. But Dr Roshawnna I appreciate you so much again, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Outro 16:16

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and everywhere you listen to podcasts, subscribe and leave us a five-star rating.

Grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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