The nonprofit has an opportunity to tell the story of how the organization adapted to tremendous external changes in the last year.
Last year, Covid-19, coupled with the recent economic recession, heavily impacted small businesses, especially minority-owned businesses. Our programs are needed during the post-COVID era even more than prior to the pandemic. In 2022, Ventures continued offering virtual business courses, virtual one-on-one business coaching, incubation services, and access to Capital to individuals who face barriers to small business ownership and economic stability. Since the pandemic, we have been steadily increasing our services. Last year, we supported more than 1000 entrepreneurs with limited resources and unlimited potential. We delivered more than 30 business courses, 2101 hours personalized one-on-one business coaching, deployed $308,697 to our entrepreneurs through microloans, lease support for businesses in brick-and-mortar locations, and micro grants. We were able to host our first hybrid event, InnoVentures, and coached 43 entrepreneurs on public speaking skills. Ventures Marketplace, our retail store and incubation space, generated $95,007 in sales with $49,461 going in the pockets of the participating entrepreneurs.
In 2022, we also faced an internal challenge with the leadership transition of our Executive Director. After 8 successful years in the Executive Director role, and after years of thoughtful succession planning in collaboration with our Board, Beto Yarce passed the leadership baton to long-time Ventures leader, Laura Fletcher, in summer 2022. Laura has worked with our team and community of entrepreneurs since 2012. In this new interim role, she is working to ensure that our staff and board have the support they need to continue equipping entrepreneurs to launch and grow microbusinesses. Our Board has hired a recruitment firm to embark on a thoughtful selection process for our new leader this upcoming year. The recruitment and selection process is underway, and we expect to have a new Executive Director by May-June 2023.