Oakland Business Bootcamp Cooperative d/b/a Uptima Entrepreneur Cooperative

Oakland Business Bootcamp Cooperative, D/B/A Uptima Entrepreneur Cooperative, provides holistic and culturally relevant education, advising, and community to support diverse entrepreneurs in creating thriving businesses in service to their communities. We envision a community of resilient, thriving entrepreneurs and businesses that are economically, socially, and environmentally just.

Our Programs

We support the financial security of communities of color by improving economic mobility through entrepreneurship. As entrepreneurs of color, we recognize the significant value we create in our communities. We are developing businesses that advance solutions for a more socially just society. At the same time, we are acutely aware that the history of discrimination and continued widening of the racial wealth gap creates a barrier to accessing appropriate support to make a sustainable living. Our rigorous, culturally relevant education and business advising give entrepreneurs of color the tools and support to build financial sustainability and personal success, while creating positive social, environmental, and economic impact.

Who we serve

Since our founding in 2014, we have been a leader in business support in our communities of Oakland, San Francisco, and more recently Boston. We have supported 750+ individuals in starting, planning, growing, funding, and keeping their businesses in their communities. Around 75% of these entrepreneurs are people of color and 80% are women. Collectively, they have raised $5.7 million in funding and created nearly 700 jobs in their communities. And since mid-March 2020, we have worked with 450+ entrepreneurs of color in stabilizing their finances, accessing relief funds, pivoting their business models, and putting in place the infrastructure to make their businesses more resilient

Focus Areas:

Our programs support entrepreneurs throughout their journey of starting, planning, growing, funding, leading, and keeping their businesses in their communities. Current programs include:

·        Bootcamps: Short courses to support freelancers, independent artists, small business owners, and startup founders in developing their business model, defining their social impact, and laying the foundation to thrive.

·        Academy: Year-long social entrepreneurship certificate program to support small business owners and startup founders to create plans, develop operational capacities, implement infrastructure, access capital, and develop leadership capabilities to build resilient businesses with social impact.

·        Advising: Long-term business advising provided in collaboration with mission-aligned partners to support small business owners in growing and keeping their businesses in their communities. We partner with mission-aligned funders that center entrepreneurs of color, such as The Runway Project Friends & Family Loan Program. Our Academy is a major pipeline for this fund, and they provide friendly capital and on-going business advising to support our entrepreneurs in continuing to grow their businesses.