Over the past 34 years, Janaid Kareem has been a must in the Dover Business Community.
Originally from Delaware, he opened his first hair salon at the age of 18 and passed it from a small two -chairs operation in a flourishing company. Today, Kareem is a pivotal figure of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Dover, using its decades of experience to guide and support the owners of budding businesses.
Through programs like Launcher And Healing initiative of the State University of DelawareIt helps new entrepreneurs sailing their way to success.
In a recent interview, Kareem shared his trip from the young entrepreneur to the commercial mentor, discussing how his own experiences fueled his passion to support others in their businesses.
This interview has been modified for more clarity and brevity.
Question:: You opened your first hair salon at 18. What inspired you to make this jump?
Answer: A good friend of me by the name of Benjamin Sturgis believed in me more than I thought in me at the time. Benjamin called me, told me that he needed me to cut my hair and he dropped me off the Bobby Wilson hair salon. On the other side of the rue du Salon de Coiffure was a park where many people dragged.
Bobby went to the park and asked people if they wanted free haircuts. Two or three guys said yes. I cut my hair and Bob said I was good enough to work in the shop. I’ve been cutting since.
Tell us about your role in the Launcher program in Dover. How did it happen?
Governor Carney held a session of questions and answers with the entrepreneurs. One question was to make rue Loockerman more viable. Over the years, I had seen something really painful: people spending $ 30, $ 40, $ 50,000 from their hard earned money, their savings, to start a new business. Then six months later, they would be closed.
I asked Governor Carney what we could do to prevent individuals from spending their money, then losing their business. He connected me with the launcher program, which started Wilmington under Paul Calistro. They brought him back to Dover Neighborhood Partners. Will Grimes hired me as an instructor, and 200 graduates and 80 companies in the county of Kent later, we are still going strong.
You are also involved in the healing program of the State University of Delaware. What is this?
The Cure Program of Delaware State University is an incubator program for small businesses. Cure offers entrepreneurs a shared office space, a workspace and a floor space for events.
But more importantly, Cure links entrepreneurs to experts from the State University of Delaware. DSU has a school of activity with many disciplines, so that they can link entrepreneurs to expertise in different disciplines of the university. If someone needs marketing, DSU has a marketing program. If they are in agriculture, DSU has a program of agriculture. They correspond to entrepreneurs with these different disciplines to help them take the next step in their trip.
What is your specific role with Cure?
I help to recruit and bring people into the program. Several of my launcher program graduates are in fact in the healing program now. For example, in our last cohort, we had two entrepreneurs who were farmers – a farmer with herbs and a trees producer, both from Hartley. Although I could help them develop their business plans, they needed specialized advice after obtaining the diploma. We connected them with Dean Casson, who linked them to the DSU agriculture program for this higher level support.
With your own business, what pushes you to devote so much time to help other entrepreneurs?
I know what it is to be in a space and not have people available to help you. There are in fact more people here who want to help than people who do not, but you have to connect the points between those who need help and those who are ready to provide it.
In my phone right now, I have more than 4,000 contacts. If someone asks something, I can find someone to help them with everything they need. I remember what it is not to have these contacts – to worry about taking advantage of entrepreneurs or to feel uncertain about licenses and permits.
Can you share an example of how you saw this support make a difference?
I remember when I got my first Trust Delaware loan. The director of branch told me about their minority loans, but unfortunately, they had only had five candidates in two years despite millions of dollars available for small businesses in the city center. It was not that people did not want money. They just didn’t know it.
Now I connect these same points to M&T Bank and WSFS, who have incredible products for the city center entrepreneurs.
What is most fulfilling is to go down Loolerman Street now and see five, six, seven, eight of our launcher program graduates which are one, two, three or four years in prosperous businesses.
You can contact Anitra Johnson in ajohnson@delawareonline.com.