Transforming
Communities Through
Inclusive Entrepreneurship
and Workforce Empowerment
Global Entrepreneurship Business Lab (GEBL) builds inclusive entrepreneurship programs and provides workforce consulting in Michigan, across the United States, and in emerging economies worldwide to help communities thrive and empower its people.
We assist economic development and social equity agencies to create and implement inclusive entrepreneurship and workforce programs to cultivate diversity and trailblaze pathways toward race equity, social and economic justice for communities and businesses.
Create Welcoming and
Vibrant Economies
Through program development, entrepreneurship coaching and training, career consulting and linguistic services, we help transform communities through inclusive entrepreneurship and workforce development to foster welcoming and vibrant economies.
Services
We work with mission-minded organizations
who believe in developing intentional initiatives and programs to cultivate a diverse, equitable, and inclusive entrepreneurial business community and workforce.
Whether your agency has a existing program or would like assistance in creating a customized program that fits your mission, metrics, and vision, we are here to help.
Stay Connected
DEI Program Development
Creating and implementing an entrepreneurship, workforce program or DEI initiative for your organization can be daunting. We understand the complexities and the countless moving pieces for a program to be successful.
As a program partner, our experience, expertise, and guidance helped organizations to design, streamline, drive impact, and create a memorable user experience.
Entrepreneurship & Career Training
Whether you need one course or an entire curriculum, we design customized virtual-live, pre-recorded webinars, or in-person training for entrepreneurs to launch or grow their business or professionals to scale their careers.
Our one-on-one coaching uniquely caters to each individual through a holistic approach, considering their background, culture, business or professional history and specific needs.
Translation Assistance
We assist with document translation, or if you need another set of eyes to edit and confirm accuracy.
Our translators are experienced in business terminology to ensure your message is translated into its intended meaning.
Requires advanced notice. Please contact us to discuss timely delivery!
Our Mission
"To create equitable societies by uniting our expertise with mission-minded organizations and together, empower businesses and professionals in the BIPOC and underserved populations with the skills and resources they need to launch, thrive, and achieve long-term sustainability."
AGENCY CLIENTS & PARTNERS
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Economic Development Organizations (EDOs)
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Nonprofits
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Non-government Organizations (NGOs)
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Higher Education
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Mission-Minded For-profit Companies
Meet the Team
Renowned skill
Emotional intelligence
Transformational leadership
Impact driven experience in the field
Led and shaped organizations and communities around the world
Meet our team of co-creators.
Millie Chu
Founder & CEO
Millie Chu, founder of Global Entrepreneurship Business Lab, has been committed to economic inclusion, community development, education, inclusion programs, and building infrastructures to strengthen equity and equality for BIPOC and the underserved around the world for nearly 2 decades. In 2019, Millie was featured in Forbes as an immigrant leader who helps and inspires other immigrants to become entrepreneurs. In addition, she has been in the U.S. News and World Report along with dozens of media publications on economic and social justice, business and inclusive entrepreneurship. She has provided consulting and growth strategies to over 500 organizations, launched more than 90 startups, and taught business and international entrepreneurship for 10 years at Michigan colleges and universities. Globally, she created programs in the Middle East to benefit refugees and women owned businesses, and assisted entrepreneurs in the advanced technology industry across Asia, Europe, and South America. When embracing work-life harmony, you can likely find Millie enjoying time with her loved ones, pampering her fur babies, gardening or exploring a new adventure.
Sharonda Simmons
Equity and Engagement Consultant
With over a decade of executive leadership experience, Sharonda Simmons has a proven track record of building high performing teams and creating sustainable infrastructure. At Global Entrepreneurship Business Lab, Sharonda trains organizations on diversity, equity and inclusion principles. She has a deep-rooted passion for social justice and has served as a trained facilitator in Intergroup Dialogue for over 15 years. She has trained and facilitated social identity development curriculum for universities, educators, non-profit professionals, and community members since 2007. It is Sharonda’s personal belief that agencies are most successful when social justice and equity principles are embedded in the systems and fabric of an organization. In 2020 she founded Thrive and Shine LLC, a professional development and mentorship space geared toward supporting BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) young professionals.
Colette Douglas
Soft Skills Development Specialist
Colette brings 30 years of training and consulting experience to the business community. At Global Entrepreneurship Business Lab, she specializes in delivering communications and soft skills training from a DE&I lens and incorporates a wealth of best practice techniques. She sets a positive attitude with pre-class communications to answer the question, “Why are we doing this?” before training begins which has created immeasurable impact, willingness, and active participation. As an entrepreneur herself, Colette is a certified WBE and Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) and President of Elite Customer Service (ECS), an Ann Arbor, Michigan based consulting firm.
T.Rose Malone
Business Plan Specialist
T.Rose helps entrepreneurs assess their business’s potential, attract investors and lenders, meet compliance standards, and turn their ideas into reality. At Global Entrepreneurship Business Lab, she coaches disadvantaged small businesses on how to launch and grow. Prior, T.Rose served as a college professor, she developed and taught the entrepreneurship curriculum on the core fundamentals of business ownership based on her research and personal experience as an entrepreneur. She founded WriteYourPlan.com, in 2017, working with entrepreneurs who are seeking funding to support their business to write a comprehensive business plan. T.Rose is the mother of two highly motivated daughters, earned a master’s degree in guidance and counseling, has served as a human resources consultant, public speaker, business owner, and international business consultant.
At Global Entrepreneurship Business Lab, Guiqiu supports the team as a career consultant and linguistics specialist. She is an international educator and has 10+ years of experience working for economic development and social impact organizations facilitating people-to-people exchange between the U.S. and China. She is a certified career coach with a proven record in helping international students and skilled immigrants land their first professional jobs in the U.S. Guiqiu provides consulting on cultural competency, resume training, building networks and more. She assists BIPOC and the underserved in career development to attain fulfilling work and to scale their career. At GEBL, she also provides translation and interpretation services to benefit Chinese-speaking business owners, translates technical business documents for economic development organizations, and develops talent recruitment and retention strategies for skilled international STEM workforce.
Guiqiu Wang
Career Consultant & Linguistics Specialist
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Kristin Gapske
Business Consultant
Kristin is a business consultant for Global Entrepreneurship Business Lab specializing in serving small businesses in geographically disadvantaged and rural areas. In her former role, Kristin is the founding director of the Entrepreneurship Center at Washtenaw Community College. She grew the center from its opening in 2014 into a thriving community hub for business advice, in-depth campus and community resources, and inspiring community events. She is an entrepreneur and successful business founder with additional wide-ranging experience in nonprofit business and economic development, and a recipient of WCC's inaugural Equity in Action award. She led an importing company and distributed home decor products wholesale in the US for 15 years. In addition Kristin has many years of nonprofit volunteer experience, in the US and Australia, specializing in organizations supporting women, underrepresented entrepreneurs, students, artists and Southeast Asia. She enjoys helping fellow entrepreneurs fill the gaps between dream, startup and growth, and assists in connecting the dots to resources, education, mentors and entrepreneurial support organizations. She also sits on the board of the Ypsilanti-based nonprofit organization Friends In Deed.
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Timothy Rygwelski
Program Assistant
Tim is a Program Assistant at Global Entrepreneurship Business Lab who provides program and client support for underrepresented small businesses. In addition to GEBL, his professional experience includes working in economic development for the Michigan SBDC as an Intake Coordinator helping small businesses get connected to resources and entrepreneurial assistance in the community. As a student at Saginaw Valley State University, he is pursuing two bachelor's degrees in marketing and in business management; upon completion, he plans to obtain his Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) degree. He also serves as the President of Tau Kappa Epsilon at SVSU. As a young professional, he is excited to turn the next chapters in his professional career and to continue growing as a leader who values diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of his life. Outside of work and school, Tim enjoys spending time with his family and friends.
Our Story
WHY WE ARE DEDICATED TO HELPING THE UNDERSERVED.
It began several decades ago, when a young couple, Chiu Wing and Mon Ner Chu, immigrated from China to the United States with little to their name. They barely spoke English, lived in a distressed neighborhood, and did not know where to get help. They came to the United States with 2 small children, and one on the way. Through relentless tenacity and perseverance, they built their first company within 7 years and created dozens of jobs for Americans and immigrants.
The young couple is our founder’s parents. Millie Chu, founder of Global Entrepreneurship Business Lab, was 4 years old when she came to the United States. Her parents recognized Millie's unusual interest in philosophy by the age of two, and throughout her childhood, was tuned to being emotionally aware and mindful. Millie witnessed her parents work endlessly, often multiple jobs at a time to make ends meet and save money to pursue the American dream. She never heard them gripe about working 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. On many occasions, she would not see her father for days as he traveled from one labor job to the next while he slept in any vehicle or corner to rest, while her mother sewed garments for pennies till her fingers were sore.
As new citizens, they did not have access to funding to launch their dream. They weren't able to attend English lessons due to working long hours at laborious jobs to care for 3 children. Despite financial and language challenges, her parents became founders of 2 successful self-made companies in Michigan, USA, creating many jobs for Americans and immigrants. Millie was eleven years old when they opened their first small business and supported her family as a child translator at business meetings and helped launch and manage the family business. Millie and her family wished organizations existed decades ago who could’ve provided guidance to families like hers, who believed in diversity, equity, and inclusion for minorities, immigrants and the underrepresented.
Since 2007 our founder dedicated her career journey to education, economic development, inclusion programs, and building infrastructures to mobilize equity and equality for minorities. In 2019, Millie was featured in Forbes as an immigrant leader who helps and inspires other immigrants to become entrepreneurs. Collectively, these experiences led to the birth of Global Entrepreneurship Business Lab.
When Millie's father passed away in October 2020, it ignited her spirit even greater than before to scale and continue building inclusive communities in memory of her fathers courage and determination to create the life he envisioned for the people he loved.
An organization like Global Entrepreneurship Business Lab was once a hope and dream, but it is now forged as a reality dedicated to helping underrepresented entrepreneurs who began like the Chu family.
CONTACT US
Contact
Global Entrepreneurship Business Lab
