Every inch of the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs’ 54,000 square foot space is intentionally designed.
There is no standard ‘Welcome Sign’ at the door. Instead you are greeted by a statue of Herman J. Russell – the Center’s namesake and one of Atlanta’s most prominent entrepreneurs – plastering over a wall of negative sayings and creating a wall of positive ones. It’s a sign, quite literally, of the positive and creative energy you’ll feel while walking around the building off of Northside Drive.
The hallway hosts a mural of Atlanta’s influential entrepreneurs past and present. But it is far from just an artistic piece; it is a call to action. Mirrors are scattered throughout at different eye levels, calling on those who walk by to picture themselves up on the wall alongside the business giants of the city.
The common areas are for “coordinated collisions” and serendipitous interactions. The city’s biggest economic development and investment offices are inside to be closer to entrepreneurs. There are studios for content creation, lounges, classrooms, office spaces, and communal resource centers to help entrepreneurs get help in real time.
Every part of the building echoes a central message that Jay Bailey, the Russell Center’s President and CEO, wants to make clear: This is not your standard startup hub or business incubator. This is a community designed to build Black-owned companies and transform Atlanta’s business ecosystem.
And the center is just getting started, says Bailey.
BUILDING DIFFERENTLY
Six years ago, RICE was a dream and a few renderings of what could be created in Atlanta’s Castleberry Hill neighborhood. Today, it’s the city’s top gathering spot and incubator for Black-owned businesses. More than 80,000 people walk through its doors each year. With 35 full-time employees, RICE currently supports 360 entrepreneurs, known as stakeholders. Those stakeholders are building venture-backed tech platforms, fast-growing ecommerce brands, and disruptive retail companies.
RICE thinks about the accelerator model differently than most. Its curriculum meets entrepreneurs where they are at in their business journey. Founders come to the Center at any stage, be it pre-idea or when they need customers and capital, and find the resources and community they need.
It is all about providing “access, opportunity, and exposure” for Black founders, Bailey added.
“The goal to be not just informative, but transformative.”
RICE also thinks about partnerships differently. The Center isn’t just financially supported by Fortune 500 and large enterprises like Chase, Fifth Third Bank, Paypal, Mastercard, and Walmart. Those companies fully immerse themselves into the Center. UPS, for example, runs the UPS’s Logistics Launchpad to support ecommerce business owners scale. And alongside Airbnb’s recent $50k grant announcement, the vacation booking platform runs the Airbnb Entrepreneurship Academy out of RICE, something that Bailey said helps people dip their toes into the entrepreneurial journey.
GROWTH MODE
Now in 2024, RICE is in expansion mode.
The Center is in the middle of a $44.4 million capital campaign, which is expected to wrap up this year. Part of that funding will help RICE expand its physical presence, which is crucial given pent up demand. The Center already has 500 entrepreneurs on the waiting list ready to join the space.
The Russell Center has outlined some high goals moving forward. Over the next ten years, the Center wants to help form 1,000 businesses, build 3,000 new jobs, and create $2 billion in new economic value, according to the 2023 RICE Report.
The numbers are big, but so too is the need. RICE exists because of the massive racial wealth gap in Atlanta. White-owned businesses are valued at nearly eleven times the value of the average Black-owned business. And Black founders still receive less than one percent of venture capital dollars each year.
Reaching those outlined goals will help drastically transform the Atlanta business ecosystem for generations to come. For Bailey, reaching that goal means focusing on what makes RICE different: It is an intentionally-built and welcoming community that knows how to build businesses.
“We have to ask, ‘how are people better by walking through our door?’” he added.
