Plant-based ice cream entrepreneur wins MORTAR pitch competition

Denise Williams, owner and founder of Diva De La Creme plant-based ice cream company, was the big winner at the MORTAR at Bounce Life’s a Pitch event on April 20. Our finalists presented their pitches to five judges in pursuit of a $3,000 business grant. The pitch competition and graduation ceremony was held in person […]

History of Black entrepreneurship inspires GROW program

For Black people living in the Mississippi Delta in the late 1950s, the prospects of work were limited, so many worked long, hot days in the cotton fields. One man, Cleve Mormon, had another idea – selling ice to those toiling under the hot sun. In solving this simple problem, Mormon became an unlikely – […]

Entrepreneur turns passion into growing artisanal food company

Tanya Green, who founded Julia Belles’ Seasonings in 2015, admits that she didn’t follow the usual path of starting a new business. “I had products and a customer base before I had business and marketing plans or a logo and product packaging,” she said. Green, who works full-time as a new product development researcher, has […]