The Wright Village is an ecosystem consisting of entrepreneurs in underserved communities. It’s a business incubator and coworking space that fosters culture, connects like-minded entrepreneurs, and helps entrepreneurs purpose their success. Entrepreneurs can collaborate, connect industry experts, learn strategies to drive success and avoid failure, have access to workshops and networking events, and low-cost office solutions to achieve success.
Mel Wright founded The Wright Village after multiple business ventures, where she experienced a lack of business support and resources. Her goal is to deliver those resources to entrepreneurs in underserved communities so they can grow their business with a strong network.
The inspiration for The Wright Village is connecting members to resources that they wouldn’t otherwise have access to. Banking and financial management resources are an important category.
Wright says banking resources are significantly lacking, and the ones that are available tend to have unfavorable terms—even for simple business checking accounts.
“Most banks require a minimum balance or they’ll hit you with fees,” said Wright. “For my business, and the entrepreneurs I work with, that balance required to avoid fees is the money we need to use to build our business.”
Early-stage entrepreneurs are running lean, and can’t afford to pay the bank every time they go below their minimum balance. In addition, they need more proactive ways to control expenses while they generate demand for their products.
“In my experience, business owners in the early stages need a tool that can help them identify where they’re spending unwisely,” said Wright. “To this point, there has been nothing I could recommend to help them easily categorize and identify those opportunities.”
After talking with numerous banks and credit unions, Wright discovered Viably.
Viably puts everything in one place for the busy entrepreneur.
“When you login, you can see the money coming in and the money going out,” said Wright. “Entrepreneurs have a lot on their plate, so to see all of their business finances at a glance saves a lot of time.”
For her own business finances, Wright is thrilled to save time previously spend combing bank statements.
“It’s tedious to go line-by-line to track expenses,” she explained. “Some people work better with visual data, especially when it’s right in front of you whenever you need it.”
Viably helps Wright and her villagers see their cash flow in real time whenever they need it.
There are two primary benefits that Wright and her community of entrepreneurs can get from Viably: time and money.
“I love that it has no fees,” said Wright. “Even the little ones add up when you’re starting out. Minimum balance fees. Transfer fees. Avoiding those is a huge perk.”
For the small business owner doing their own books and financial planning, Viably handles much of the heavy lifting.
“Real time cash flow is a staple for small businesses,” said Wright. “It takes time to piece it together from bank statements, and small business owners usually don’t have that time.”
Finally, as Wright says, it’s time for banking to evolve and meet the busy entrepreneur in the digital world.
“My members need flexibility from their bank,” said Wright. “So in addition to having no fees, the ability to build a relationship and find resources online with Viably is a major plus.”
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