Emprende

The City of Little Rock’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is partnering with the Small Business Development Office to offer Emprende as a pathway of BUILD Academy. Emprende is a comprehensive educational program that offers Little Rock’s Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs a series of free classes on establishing, managing, and growing a business.

Emprende is the only program of its kind in Little Rock. With a renewed focus on the construction, professional services, landscaping, janitorial, food services, and real estate and housing industries, this comprehensive cohort-based program provides small businesses with the knowledge, resources, and connections to do business with the City of Little Rock. Emprende bridges access and opportunity, ensuring that our Spanish-speaking community is fully included in—and contributing to—Little Rock’s economy. 

The program provides information about types of business entities; finances and access to capital; taxes, licenses and permits; insurance; networking; customer service; marketing; and doing business with the City of Little Rock. 

Our team provided 35 hours of programming in 2023, in which participants engaged with local lenders, tax preparers, consultants, and city officials. As of November 2023, a total of 91 small business owners and entrepreneurs had participated, with a 79% graduation rate. Among the most recent cohort, the rate of participants who reported networking with other business owners at least sometimes increased 33% by the end of the program.