Entrepreneurship company CO+HOOTS has launched its HUUB application in Phoenix to connect, advise and workshop with the city’s local small businesses.
The HUUB is a digital platform that has helped over 800 companies in Mesa and Gilbert. It gathers all available resources for entrepreneurs such as grant information, technical training and expert advice for those in Gilbert, Mesa and now the city of Phoenix.
As stated on the company website, CEO and founder Jenny Poon began the first Phoenix co-working space, CO+HOOTS, in 2010 with partner Odeen Domingo, responding to the economic recession by creating a central hub of innovation in the city for entrepreneurs.
Soon after being founded, CO+HOOTS began offering workshops for their clients alongside weekly speakers and business incubation services. This led to the eventual creation of the HUUB, which does this and more without the need to ever meet in person.
“We were building this platform to expand our community-building efforts for entrepreneurs and to expand support to underrepresented communities,” Poon said.
An opportunity presented itself to the team when, “the pandemic hit and at the same time, the city of Mesa reached out and put out a request for proposal and said they were looking for partners to build a digital library,” she continued.
The city of Mesa, with the knowledge that the COVID-19 outbreak was hurting small businesses across the Valley, created a technical assistance program for a digital tool that could not only function as a location for resources but also as a way for businesses to help each other.
Currently, according to Small Business Trends, 1,039,228 of the state’s eligible workforce are employed by the 571,495 small businesses registered in Arizona.
The aforementioned concept aligned perfectly with the project Poon’s team was working on and a partnership was born. Both organizations soon aimed to offer expert advice on topics such as website creation, details on how to manage a point of sale system, legal counsel and financial aid on a free and easily accessible platform.
“Our big goal has always been to serve billions of people, and ‘how do we scale this’ was one of the biggest questions,” Poon said. “So we worked with the state revenue center to really look at what they needed and make improvements on archaic systems in place.”
Rather than insisting business owners meet city scheduling demands and deliver physical copies of intake forms, the app HUUB brought resources and funding support from Arizona cities and their partner organizations together in one app.
The app was first launched in Mesa over the summer with the tag MesaCares, and within the first 30 days, Poon reported that 65% of businesses either raised revenues, lowered expenses, hired a new employee or received a loan or grant.
Similarly, when #GilbertTogether HUUB was released in Gilbert in December, businesses rushed to join the program, with 250 enrolling within the first month
The PhxBizConnect soft launch last week has already garnered 200 new businesses on the app, promising a more profitable future for the Phoenix businesses that have been forced to adjust to an unstable new normal.
These small Phoenix businesses have had to face many challenges and uncertainties, especially in the initial months of the pandemic when little information or advisories were available.
Local entrepreneur Amanda Rose, owner of Hair By Amanda Rose, has been operating in Phoenix since 2009 but has been her own boss for three years.
“I was able to really flourish and become my own brand as opposed to before where I kind of had to be put in a box,” Rose said.“Now I’ve created my own brand based off of my clients and the partnership that we’ve created together.”
One benefit to owning one’s own business was that during the pandemic, entrepreneurs within the community were able to make smart and safe decisions for themselves to adapt to the uncertain environment.
“I feel very blessed to have my own space, I have two rooms that I’m able to bounce back and forth between as opposed to having a full salon where there’s 15 chairs and they’re all next to each other,” Rose said.
The situation appears to be improving for the city, as alongside the release of HUUB, according to the Small Business survey conducted by The U.S. Census from Feb. 15 to Feb. 21, small businesses in Phoenix, Mesa, and Chandler reported 13.4% of an increase in revenue compared to the national average of 7.3%.
HUUB is also not alone in its mission to aid the businesses that make the Grand Canyon State so unique.
“The Arizona Small Business Association (ASBA) has been laser-focused on what it will take to enable and facilitate small business economic recovery, and we’re more committed than ever to driving a better environment for all of us to do business,” spokesperson Katie Prendergast said.
Recently, the ASBA launched the Forge Ahead training initiative, which utilizes the feedback of the thousands of small business clients within the organization and can be found for free on their website.
With multiple organizations dedicated to the success and continued survival of the valley’s local entrepreneurs while producing new innovative tools for them, it seems the future of small business may finally be looking up again.
Contact the reporter at samackie@asu.edu.
