How a new BIPOC, immigrant professional development organization aims to meet Sioux Falls' needs

A new non-profit in Sioux Falls is helping immigrants and people of color in the world of business.

The HUB is a BIPOC (which stands for Black, Indigenous and people of color) leadership, networking and professional development organization started by Julian Beaudion and Kuol Malou.

The official launch was celebrated with a party and meeting on July 28 at Swamp Daddy’s in the Jones421 building. 

“We're just excited to bring this to the community,” Malou said. The two have been developing The HUB for the past three years.

Similar, but not quite like a chamber of commerce, The HUB will feature a Networking 101 course, and a partnership with 1818 Elite Financial will provide classes on generation wealth and budgeting.

The skills will be both in the classroom and practical, said Malou, and the course will also include going through nuances of the interview process and how people can better advocate for the job they want.

“I think the greatest need for people of color in the business community is just a space and opportunity to grow,” Beaudoin said. “Our hope is to really create those spaces and opportunities that are so that we could sustain this for generations to come.”

More from SFBJ: New Mexican ice cream parlor looks to open near downtown Sioux Falls

How co-founders with different backgrounds came to create The HUB

Beaudion has lived in Sioux Falls for over a decade. He’s a state law enforcement officer, the current executive director of South Dakota African Americans, the president of Juneteenth Sioux Falls and now the co-founder of The HUB.

He and his wife also own Swamp Daddy’s Cajun Kitchen in downtown Sioux Falls.

A few years ago, Beaudion and his wife were fighting for state legislation for Juneteenth and asked for the support of the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce, he said.

“At the time, they declined to support us in an effort and said they wanted to do what’s best for the majority of their members,” Beaudion said. “And that was mostly white people.”

Since then, the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce has backed Juneteenth legislation and still has other programs that promote business skills and diversity, such as the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion activator series.

But the initial event inspired Beaudion to create a place that’s able to meet the specific needs of the BIPOC community.

Beaudion got in contact with other Black chambers of commerce like those in Minneapolis and Kansas City to find out how something like that might work.

“We started talking about making a Black chamber of commerce in Sioux Falls, but we really don’t have the resources – or really the number of black business professionals – to do the same thing on that level,” Beaudion said.

More SFBJ: Ten South Dakota businesses are ranked in the Inc. 5000 list. See which made the cut.

After taking a step back to think about what would fit the Sioux Falls community, he heard Malou was working on something similar for the immigrant community. The two men put their heads together and created The HUB.

As a child, Malou came to the United States with his family as refugees in 1998 from the area that’s now known as South Sudan.

“We had to navigate an unknown world through cultural and language barriers and what they call the American dream,” Malou said.

Growing up, he struggled in finding a community.

“I thought I found it a few times, but then the more I discovered and the more I tried to connect, the more barriers I found,” Malou said. “The biggest challenge was trying to find a place to fit in. Not quite an outsider, but I kept like feeling like the ‘other.’”

More SFBJ: After starting operations in basement, Sioux Falls' Silencer Central named to Inc. 5000

Malou moved to Sioux Falls in 2015 to try and find that community and is now the co-founder of ACE Academy and a brand ambassador for Coldwell Banker in addition to being the co-founder of The HUB.

Malou also got involved in other business organizations in Sioux Falls, he said, but while they have good resources, there are certain barriers that make it hard for some people in communities of color to succeed.

“A lot of the refugees and immigrants who migrate here might have skills and certifications from their prior country, but are still stuck in low-wage jobs because they’re all struggling to understand the nuances of the culture of finding a job,” Malou said.

The HUB is meant to help with that.

Community members share desires for space, networking

“It’s helpful to see something like this come to life in Sioux Falls,” Sioux Falls local Julia Tasuil said. “It was needed. This will give people opportunities catered to their needs to help them be successful.”

Tasuil found out about the HUB through ACE Academy, where she takes her 6-year-old, and she said seeing the founders’ involvement in the community made her more excited to trust what they’re doing.

She is working on starting her own non-profit and previously started a small business with her mom. Tasuil has also been involved with Young Professional Network, Start-up Sioux Falls and the Small Business Associate at some point in time.

“There are definitely a lot of great existing resources, but there’s also been a struggle of representation,” Tasuil said. “It can be really isolating in other organizations.”

Tasuil’s friend, Tray Mendez, is also joining The HUB. Mendez, whose pronouns are they/them, is a first-generation Latin whose parents immigrated from Chili.

“As a business owner, I haven’t been able to find a community elsewhere with people who share experiences and can talk about our struggles,” Mendez said. “And that makes it easy to feel alone.”

Mendez owns Elementray, an inclusive yoga studio that features restorative movement classes for BIPOC and members of the LGBT+ community. Mendez said that in other professional spaces in Sioux Falls, they’ve been harmed by people with good intentions.

More SFBJ: United Childcare and Preschool announces it will close doors at Asbury, FUMC

“As people of color, we don’t want to be taken advantage of for advertisement or buzzwords,” Mendez said. “By creating a space for immigrants and people of color, the HUB will give us a place where we can naturally drop the shield and build a community that can grow.”

Added Tasui: “One issue we’ve seen regularly in the (BIPOC) community is having people of color be the face of things but not having that leadership. I think it’s important people are able to address the barriers they’ve come across so we can learn and help each other have better access to becoming successful.”

More SFBJ: Cookie Jar Eatery owners want to see business 'continue for another 50 years in Sioux Falls'

For Wesley Benoit, most of his best opportunities came from networking, and he hopes the HUB will be that for other people, too.

Benoit mentioned how the people he met in the navy led him to starting a crypto mining business.

“You never know who you’re going to meet or how what they know can help you,” he said. “I think people need a space to hear about new opportunities, share experiences and network. … And that’s what I could see The HUB becoming.”

Benoit believes The HUB will differ from the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce in that it will be able to focus more on culture and helping people break “generational gaps” when it comes to teaching financial literacy and networking skills.

“I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes,” Benoit said. “There’s a lot of great potential there … and I could tell at the launch party their intentions are pure, so that’s good.”

Becoming a member and future plans

The HUB is currently working on securing memberships. Individual memberships are $50 a year. Memberships for nonprofits are $100, and company memberships are $150 a year.

The next event will be in conjunction with Nrdvana and provide an opportunity for families to have fun together, but the details haven’t been finalized yet, the founders said. The goal is to change locations and partner with as many businesses as possible.

Beaudion hopes The HUB will eventually grow into a specialized chamber of commerce, but that wouldn’t be for a long time.

“Even if we develop to that, I don’t think it will be a replacement for anything we have here,” he said. “There’s plenty of room to grow as the community grows. Our hope is to really create those spaces and opportunities that are so that we could sustain this for generations to come.”

People can look for The HUB’s next event on Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: The Hub Sioux Falls: Business organization for BIPOC kicks off