Rise. Build. Become.

Helping vulnerable women in our community rise by building and launching a small business of their own.

The idea

There are women in our community with real gifts. Some make wonderful things people want to buy: they bake and cook and cater, sew, arrange flowers, and put together beautiful gift baskets. Others offer services people would gladly pay for: they organize homes, care for the elderly, tutor, cook for celebrations, and more.

Many are going through a vulnerable time: single mothers, widows, or recently divorced, now the main provider for their children, or in a household where the income dropped or was never enough. They are ready and eager to act; they just do not know how to start.

What they lack is not talent but the foundation: how to price their work, find customers, manage the money, and take the few legal steps that turn something they already do for others into a business of their own. KUMI LAB gives them that foundation.

Who it is for

KUMI LAB is for women in our Jewish community in Miami who are going through a vulnerable time and have a skill people would pay for: a product they make or a service they offer. The program is free. Each cohort is small, 8 to 10 women, so every woman gets real attention.

We look for women who are ready to act: a skill or idea she can start soon, the commitment to come to all eight sessions and do the work between them, and the courage to sell to real customers before the program ends.

How it works

Eight two-hour sessions, every other week, starting in January 2027 (tentative schedule) in North Dade. Every session follows the same rhythm: we review what she built in the two weeks since we last met, teach one new skill, apply it to her own business right there in the room, name the fear that shows up at that stage, put AI to work, and send her home with a clear two-week challenge. A personal mentor is beside her the whole way. By week 10, she is selling.

What these amazing 16 weeks look like 

Shape (Sessions 1 and 2). From a skill to an idea that real people want.

Session 1, IDEA: What am I building? Introductions, how the program works, and a coach who sets the tone. Then straight into it: what I sell, who buys it, and why they would choose me. She sets up AI on her phone and meets her mentor.  Two-week build: her one-page business concept.

Session 2, MARKET: Who wants this? How to talk to potential customers so they tell you the truth, and what to learn from three businesses already doing something similar.  Two-week build: five customer conversations and a sharper concept.

Build (Sessions 3 and 4). The numbers, and the smallest version someone can buy.

Session 3, MONEY: Can this make money? What one item truly costs, a price that leaves a profit, how many sales and hours it takes to reach the income she needs, and her startup cost list, which sets up her grant. Two-week build: real costs, real prices, one money sheet.

Session 4, BUILD: What is the smallest version someone can buy? A working presence built in the room (WhatsApp Business or Instagram, a price list, a Canva label or logo, a way to order and pay), plus the legal minimum to sell in Miami: EIN, local business tax receipt, cottage food label. Two-week build: publish it, have two people test the whole path, complete the legal minimum. The first grant disbursements begin here.

Launch (Sessions 5 and 6). Real customers, real numbers.

Session 5, LAUNCH: How do I put this in front of real people? A woman from our community who started her own business tells her story, the coach returns to name the fear that peaks right before launch, and she learns to announce, ask for the sale, answer “too expensive,” and ask for a referral. Two-week build: launch, and 20 real attempts to reach customers, tracked.

Session 6, LEARN: What is the market telling me? Count what happened, separate facts from feelings, change one thing, and go again. Two-week build: a second round of selling with that one change.

Run and grow (Sessions 7 and 8). Official, reliable, and hers.

Session 7, OFFICIAL: How does my business run? The full Miami checklist (business name, sole proprietor or LLC, sales tax, bank account, bookkeeping on one sheet) and how an order runs from first message to payment, written down so she can repeat it. Two-week build: the official steps done and “how my business runs” on one page.

Session 8, GROW: How do I run and improve this business? The three numbers she will check every month, a 90-day plan with no more than three priorities, and the showcase, where each woman presents her business to the group. 

What she leaves with

Every participant finishes the program with a business that has already sold to real customers, prices that leave a profit, her legal steps done, a mentor who knows her, and a 90-day plan she wrote herself.

KUMI LAB  •  Miami, Florida  •  (305) 519-5731  •  Rise. Build. Become.