Since February 2013, NuFocus Group LLC (NFG), led by its owner and Chief Executive Officer Tommy Page, has provided a platform for many businesses operating out of the Roanoke MSA to be seen in the global marketplace. NFG operated Focused Radio (online radio station with its own app), The Focus Magazine (online digital magazine with hyperlinks to increase shopping) and NFETv (online web shows and
original visual digital media content) that became conduits for businesses of Roanoke to increase their visibility beyond the parameters of local network television and other current media channels. This also provided a spark of new activity for business enterprise from the Historic Gainsboro area which was the hub of minority opportunity for prosperity in Southwest VA from the 1920’s up until the devastations of Urban Renewal of the 1960’s and current seat of the vision for a New Gainsboro Business Corridor. Tommy Page has converted the business strategies and his success in small business, non-profit organizations, as an independent artist and all other entrepreneurship ventures of NFG to perform community action initiatives that includes resource allocation, fundraising, and ownership (home/business) creation by training the local and virtual community through a newly formed nonprofit NFX. Using innovative strategies of the bigger metropolitan areas NFG has operated in and is still connected to such as Virginia Beach, Richmond, Philadelphia, NYC, Washington DC, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Miami, NFX has already added revenue generating mechanisms to the smaller Roanoke Valley. This sustainable Black and Disabled Veteran owned business has shown promise to produce immediate results of economic development, jobs, and vibrancy which will continue to add to the overall goal of Roanoke City to bring tourism, community engagement, and business revenue. NFX Vision Statement
NFX will continue to be a leader in developing minority owned and other disadvantaged businesses in Southwest VA utilizing Innovation to create #Opportunities through effective and efficient use of #Technology and #Workforce to optimize #Enterprise. Black and Veteran-Owned, NFX has proven its value to the community it serves and is poised to be a bridge for diversity and inclusion to make our world a better place. NFX Mission Statement
We are a solution-based company that works with Small to Intermediate Business Owners, Non-Profit Organizations, Independent Artists and all other entrepreneurs to identify the most effective and efficient business structure while finding support and resources from utilizing our network for their business idea. We work together to see what really suits you. Not to work for us, but an independent venture of your own that We support with our resources to assist all parties involved to be successful. NFX has attacked the simply complex task of solving problems and fixing issues within the low performing Gainsboro District Village center. In order to be effective and efficient, NFX developed two separate project coordination teams within the organization. Knowing the need for trained workforce participants and financial resources to entrepreneurs with the focus on community development would require cooperation between new businesses coming to and the seasoned ones that had already been operating in Gainsboro. The Justice Business Ecosystem Center (JustBE or JBEC) and the Take Back Our Yard Foundation (TBOYF) has worked simultaneously to prepare NFX for maximum success going forth. The Take Back Our Yard Foundation,
was set up to drive fundraising efforts to build the Just BE Center Endowment. We aligned our community action efforts with that of the Southwest Virginia Development Fund which worked extensively in developing Gainsboro from the 1970’s and still provides a place that minority businesses have gotten resources for the success of their business idea. Currently we have a 2-year running TBOY: Cultural Arts Festival and Concert Series and the "We Can Do It Ourselves: Together" campaign targeted at raising $1mil each year for the endowment. Our Mission is:
To welcome opportunity through innovation and enterprise in an area that taught us how to overcome adversity with resilience and integrity. Having a dream that bridges all walks of life to gain a better understanding of the black American experience while embracing inclusion that adds to the prosperity of Roanoke as a whole. Objectives
• Creating an interactive network between business partners and community investors to produce economic development, growth, and sustainability for not only Historic Gainsboro, but throughout the City of Roanoke
• For the elderly of Gainsboro to finally see a new and prosperous Gainsboro
• Teaching the youth, the history about Historic Gainsboro while instilling tangible tools to equip them to be successful
• Always present by creating a safe, healthy, and prosperous business ecosystem that provides opportunities for generations to come
We felt the need to have strong infrastructure was necessary to support the work we've already done throughout the state, nationally, and internationally with our #GetTheWordOut about Sickle Cell Initiative. It's the driver of us offering access to quality medical, dental, mental, and pharmaceutical services from the Claytor Clinic. We have held Blood Drives, Health Fairs and still coordinating initial screening efforts for our partners Bradley Free Clinic, Red Cross, and VCU/MCV Sickle Cell Foundation
Justice Business Ecosystem Center:
Providing much needed resources and support mechanisms with equity, diversity, and inclusion in mind to minority owned as well as all other disadvantaged businesses to assist them to achieve success within the first two years of launching their business idea is the focus of the JBEC. The JBEC will foster the 10 businesses currently in the ecosystem with its Workforce +Entrepreneurship =Business Enterprise (WEBe) Academy in the long termed leased section of the Lawson Building in Gainsboro. Just BE Center Vision
The Justice Business Ecosystem Center will take on the spirit of the building it operates out of to be a constant resource for disadvantaged business enterprise operators providing a solutions-oriented facility to aid in the repair and advancement of minority communities through economic development and further implementation of opportunities in innovation and technology. Just BE Center Mission
To continue the pursuit of equality for all Americans through facilitating a network of business and community initiatives that enhances the equity and sustainability of minority owned businesses of Roanoke, VA by ensuring the historic Gainsboro and the New Gainsboro Business Corridor produces a sustainable economic presence for years to come. It’s opportunities for young and seasoned entrepreneurs in all phases of business. They get:
- Assessment of where they are with business concept and plan
- Financial planning and budgeting assistance
- Local and State entity filing
- Legal consultation
- Mentoring
- Marketing and promotion
-Opportunity to have downtown office meeting and zoom conference space with amenities (wi-fi, business address)
Each business is encouraged to utilize other services from within the ecosystem for barter and trade. It grows as more buy into it. Current Ecosystem Participation
Facilitator
NFX
Business Services & Financial Planning
Beyond Steve Martin
Financial Literacy and Tax Support
Wes Pughsley and Associates
Legal Consultation
Kevin E Wilson esq.
10 Businesses Supported
Small Business
Natural Beauty Jewels & Accessories
Cinderella Services
Fleming Rose Building
Jersey Water Ice
Non-Profit Organization
The Dream Initiative
Roanoke Fashion Week
