Downtown Sacramento Foundation Announces Winning Business Concept of the 2022-2023 Calling All Dreamers Incubator Program
SACRAMENTO, CALIF. (April 17, 2023) – Drum roll please…the Downtown Sacramento Foundation is proud and excited to announce Monet Dyson from Dipped N Color Splat Studio as the winner of the 10th Annual Calling All Dreamers business incubator program. The coveted prize package includes $20,000
in cash and in-kind services and resources valued at $120,000 to help launch the small business and turn dreams into a reality with a downtown Sacramento storefront.
And that’s not all…new to the program this year, each of the five remaining finalists are eligible to receive $5,000 if they open their doors by March 1, 2024. Finalists include The Teetotalist Zero-Proof Social Club, Flora & Fauna Provisions, Mercado Urbano/Octopus Cevicheria, Retrospect-Vintage Fashion, and Burnside Coffee Bar, four of which are already in the leasing agreement process for storefronts downtown.
“The decision to pivot the Calling All Dreamers Program from a business competition to a business incubator has been one of the best decisions we could have made for our aspiring business community downtown and has yielded better results than we could have hoped for,” said Michael Ault, Executive Director of Downtown Sacramento Partnership. “Not only do we have a new and diverse business concept coming to downtown, participants in the Calling All Dreamers cohort have formed partnerships with other dreamers, elevating and supporting each other through a traditionally arduous process of opening a business.”
Once opened, the new Dipped N Color Splat Studio in downtown Sacramento will offer splat sessions and private parties. Monet hopes to offer a place guests can connect, create, and de-stress by splatting paint on a canvas, walls, and even each other!
“From coming across a Calling All Dreamers flyer and deciding to take a chance on an idea I had [for my business] to now being in this moment is tremendous,” said Monet Dyson, owner of Dipped N Color Splat Studio. “I couldn’t have done it without the huge support of those at the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, SCORE, One Million Cups, my family, friends, and local businesses I met along the way!”
The new-and-improved Calling All Dreamers program takes qualified applicants through a business development program that calls for extensive business planning, market research, proof of financial sustainability, and more. More than just a retail program, Calling All Dreamers has driven economic growth in downtown Sacramento for seven years, helped to open 31 businesses, created more than 100 jobs, and leased more than 26,000 square feet of space.
The 10th Annual Calling All Dreamers competition is produced by Downtown Sacramento Partnership and made possible by the generous support of the Sacramento Chapter of SCORE and the following program sponsors: Kaiser Permanente, City of Sacramento, Wells Fargo, SMUD, and California Bank of Commerce. The valuable prize package is made possible due to support from sponsors who continue to be champions for the economic growth of the downtown core that include Marquee Media, Smith, McDowell & Powell Law Corporation, XSIGHT Productions, Inc. designTECH, iHeart Media, PMU Accelerator, Bizhaven, Be Your Business, and many others.
PRESS: Download photos and video here. Interviews with finalists and program leads available upon request.
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