In June, Maria Contreras-Sweet, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, announced that Mike Muse was named SBA?s My Brother?s Keeper Millennial Entrepreneur Champion.??
The role is another accomplishment in a long list for the co-founder of Muse Recordings. Aside from being the recipient of the Reginald L. Lewis Achievement Award, Links Organization National Trends and Service Award and the youngest person to receive the 100 Black Men of America Achievement Award, Muse recently signed on with the New York Urban League as well as Vibe magazine (as Political Curator at Large) to advance both organizations? engagement with the millennial audience.?
?Millennial entrepreneurs are risk-takers making big leaps in small and growing businesses and adding fresh ideas to boost the U.S. economy.? Mike Muse?s experience in entrepreneurship and track record of savvy business ventures make him an ideal champion for millennial entrepreneurs,? said Administrator Contreras-Sweet.? ?Together, we will support President Obama?s My Brother?s Keeper Initiative by empowering young people in many of our underserved communities with SBA resources, so that they can dream big and propel the entrepreneurial spirit of their generation forward.?
In a recent interview with TNJ.com, Muse seemed upbeat and excited about his new role. ?My role is to go across the country to show black and brown boys the career opportunities that can exist in entrepreneurship through music, sports, film and fashion. Often, we only see ourselves as the athlete or the entertainer. We don’t know the range of careers we could have within those spaces,? he explains.???
And he?s already gotten started. During Small Business Week, Muse and Contreras-Sweet held a town hall style conversation with a group of millennials to expose them to entrepreneurship. Muse said he was able to curate a panel of five entrepreneurs that power NY?s economy ? from fashion to tech to venture capital and real estate.
?We had an office space company there to explain when it?s the appropriate time to upgrade from a home office to renting actual office space; we had a guy who was using and leveraging tech incubation to help people who are interested in creating consumer goods here in the states; we had Ayaan and Idyl Mohallim, founders of the Maatano clothing brand, and even a venture capitalist talking about getting start-up funding,? shares Muse.??
He adds, ?The entrepreneurs on the panel all came from non-traditional places in their approach to becoming entrepreneurs, so it was a conversation that was honest and with different layers of thought. It was important for us to have panelists that were uniquely positioned in their respective industries.?
A Network Journal 2014 40 Under Forty honoree, Muse says his best advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is to just get started. ?Don?t be afraid to fail. An entrepreneur is someone who has the courage to get started rather than wait and talk themselves out of the opportunity,? he says.
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