Women of color are boldly changing the face of entreprenuership in the United States many thanks to educational progress and economic necessity which has translated to an upsurge in capital, boosting activity in the global enterpreneurial market.
Female entrepreneurship is becoming a lot less white with minority women controlling 44 percent of women-owned businesses in the United States, up from 20 percent in 1997, according to Census data and projections by research firm Womenable.
Joining the list of thriving black women entreprenuers, what happened to be a chance meeting sparked off a genius idea. In 2017, Trishona Helm embarked on a trip to California from their native Omaha when she stumbled upon rolled Ice-cream -Thai ice cream that are vertically placed in a cup and served with different toppings, immediately taken by it, she sent it on snapchat to her friend and co-founder Vandra Caldwell. The Nebraska natives sort of joked about bringing rolled-ice creams to their hometown.
Tishona Helm(L) and Vandra Caldwell (R) co-founders of Mixins Rolled Ice Cream. Credit: Instagram
But it turned out to be more than a joke, that idea happened for real and Mixins Rolled Ice Cream by two 26 year olds was born . Instant success – within 60 days opening the shop, Mixins generated $100,000 in sales and then $500,000 in just a year.
“We just kind of joked about bringing it here, but then the next day we messaged each other saying ‘I’m serious if you are’ and our business minds teamed up together to bring the ice cream here to Omaha,” Helm, who is now a serial entrepreneur, said.
Mixins Rolled Ice Cream
About a year and two weeks, plans were already in top gear. They invested $10,000 of their savings and a $30,000 loan into starting the ice cream business in downtown Omaha.
In August 2018, the store officially launched, by the end of October, the business had generated $100,0000 in sales. In just about a week of opening, expectations were exceeded with the flavours winning hearts of Omaha residents.
At the time, they had a projection of reaching about 300 customers three times a week and according to Caldwell, a single mother of three, the numbers turned out to be at least 300 customers a day instead.
Mixins Rolled Ice Cream
There are constantly six or seven servers behind the counter serving up to 15 unique flavors to people. The ice cream is then customized for every purchaser. The names of the customers are written on the ice cream during preparation and the owners say it makes it more “personable”.
“Our brand is always coming up with new flavors. We customize the ice cream, and we really just want to create our own lane,” Helm said.
The response from locals has been “overwhelmingly crazy” especially on weekends.
Mixins Rolled Ice Cream
However their enterpreneurial journey has been a faced with lots of obstacles and setbacks but together, they have overcome to build their brand to the massive success it is today.
Image Credit: Mixins Ice Cream Instagrams
