Tommy Washbush
Jodie Jefferson battering catfish in the kitchen at the Black Business Hub.
Jodie Jefferson now makes her famous fried catfish in House of Flavas’ digs in The Black Business Hub on South Park Street.
Jodie Jefferson opened House of Flavas in 2021, serving Madison a taste of the soul food she grew up with in Chicago. Sharing her cooking with the community, she says, reminds her of gathering around her family’s kitchen table to share in the experience of a home-cooked meal.
Jefferson lost her restaurant space in 2024 when her landlord sold the building. Not ready to close the doors on House of Flavas, Jefferson explored contingency plans, which ultimately led her to discover gBeta Urban League.
NonprofitIssueCircle
gBeta Urban League is a partnership between the Urban League of Greater Madison and gener8tor, a national capital venture firm focused on small business development. Entrepreneurs accepted into gBeta Urban League work out of the Black Business Hub on South Park Street, and participate in a free seven-week program that provides them with individualized coaching and connects them to mentorship and investment opportunities.
Jefferson was selected out of a pool of nearly 60 applicants for the group’s fall 2024 cohort. After completing gBeta Urban League, Jefferson reopened House of Flavas in the Black Business Hub, utilizing connections she formed with the Urban League of Greater Madison during the program.
“If we want to keep the money in Madison, we have to grow the money in Madison,” says Jefferson. “[Entrepreneurs] have to build relationships between their businesses and investors, and gBeta does that.”
The program accepts only two cohorts of five businesses per year. The fall 2025 cohort launched in September.
In line with the ethos and mission of the Urban League of Greater Madison and the Black Business Hub, gBeta Urban League caters to entrepreneurs of color. 2017 American Community Survey data shows that only 39 (.4%) of Madison’s 10,000 businesses with more than one employee are Black-owned businesses. One of gBeta Urban League’s goals is to boost that number.
“Madison has historically been a place where underserved businesses and founders don’t get access to the resources they need,” says Jalen Greenlee, gBeta Urban League’s program manager. “Having a space like the Black Business Hub and a program like gBeta that caters to wealth generation is key for the minority community.”
Charles Moore, a participant in the fall 2025 cohort, is currently developing Roots of Care, a health app that uses AI to streamline personalized prenatal healthcare and insurance information to help people through pregnancy. While Roots of Care is designed for all women, he says he created the app with women of color in mind, “knowing how often their voices are dismissed and their concerns overlooked.”
He also notes that the maternal mortality rate for Black women is significantly higher than that for white women.
Roots of Care will use AI to create checklists to guide users through what to expect and request at doctor’s visits, what medical tests should be done at different stages of pregnancy, and what users’ insurance plans do and do not cover, says Moore. It will also include a calendar to keep track of appointments, an AI chatbot to provide answers to questions, and a community messaging feature for people to share information.
Through gBeta Urban League, he hopes to create a plan for how hospitals, doctors and insurance companies will partner with Roots of Care, though his top priority is to find an AI health company “to do the integration that will power the app.” He says Greenlee connected him to a seminar on health innovation strategies in October, which “is exactly what I need.”
Dynae Allice Photography
Women talk during The View From Here Collective's ‘Glow and Gather’ event.
Carla Williams of The View From Here Collective created the ‘Glow and Gather’ event to give Black women a space to ‘connect, reflect, and celebrate their wellness journeys.’
Carla Williams, another program participant, hopes to connect with mentors and investors who could help make her business financially sustainable.
Through The View From Here Wellness Collective, Williams hosts wellness events centered around peer support and celebration for Black women “from all walks of life” in Madison. Williams wants to keep tickets to her wellness events affordable, at $30 or less, because she doesn’t want financial barriers to keep women from joining.
But the model must work for her as well. “I would hate for it to die because I can’t financially afford to keep it going,” says Williams. “The best way to get investment opportunities is through mentorship because you have someone who’s able to speak about you in those million-dollar meetings.
“Mentorship would connect me to people who have the resources I don’t have, or the community I don’t have, to allow me to get the capital to keep things going,” she continues.
Of gBeta Urban League, Williams says: “When you look at a bar and it’s so far above you, it’s hard to consider how you’ll ever get there. But if someone gives you a ladder and shows you how to climb towards that bar, you understand better how to get there — that is what gBeta is doing, they are giving us the ladder to reach our goals.”
Blessing Odjedele says she received helpful business advice just weeks into starting the fall 2025 program. Help on how to build her business’ landing page and find new customers came from business professionals at gBeta’s “mentor swarms” — weekly events hosted in a “speed dating” style for participants to connect with mentors.
Odjedele and Saida Brema, one of her business partners, are developing DripPay, a banking app to help users prioritize credit card payments and loan paybacks. Odjedele and Brema see their app as a way to help break “generational curses” of debt and set users on a path to financial freedom.
Odjedele says Greenlee has been instrumental in helping her team stay on track to reach their goals. At their twice-weekly meetings, Greenlee offers advice on common barriers encountered in the early development stage of a business and encourages them to keep going when they feel overwhelmed.
“gBeta is helping pave the way, one step at a time,” says Odjedele. “I think you’re lucky if you know about the program.”
On Nov. 18, participants will pitch their startups to investors, mentors and prospective customers at a showcase event at the Black Business Hub. Madison activists, nonprofit leaders, marketing consultants, politicians and other business professionals are invited to attend.
“We’re always looking to provide a comprehensive view of the entire entrepreneurial landscape for our participants,” says Greenlee. “We want the participants to be exposed to different viewpoints, ideas and experiences.”
