Haith Johnson had been in the beauty industry for 40 years when she and her husband received the opportunity of a lifetime: an offer from Walmart to franchise their hair salon concept inside one of the mega retailer’s stores.
The only catch? The couple had to move their business from Detroit to Las Vegas. They jumped at the opportunity.
“It was fate,” Johnson said. “My mom had moved to Las Vegas, and it was an incredible opportunity. Ninety days later, we had packed everything up and moved.”
The couple’s company, , began the process of opening a storefront inside the Walmart at Craig and Clayton in North Las Vegas, but they knew they needed a little help.
“Being here in North Las Vegas, it was a new space. I know hair, I know wigs, and I know extensions, but I don’t know this space,” said Johnson. “But I also knew it was possible if I got training and wisdom from those who came before me.”
That’s where the comes in — a one-stop shop for small business owners located in North Las Vegas City Hall.
The Connector is a partnership between the , UNLV’s Nevada Small Business Development Center (SBDC), , and .
“We offer one-on-one business advising and coaching for local business owners looking to start or expand their businesses,” said , the SBDC’s lead business development advisor. He is also a first-generation UNLV graduate: ’20 BS Business Administration.
“We help business owners with the licensing process, we help them develop business plans, we get them ready to apply for funding and connect them to the vast ecosystem of small business resources in the area.”
Once clients are licensed in North Las Vegas and have a solid business plan in place, they’re referred to the Connector’s other partners as needed. EmployNV helps with talent and provides funding for on-the-job training, while Access Community Capital offers loans with low interest rates.
“There are so many resources out there. Most business owners don’t even know where to start, they don’t know what door to go through,” said Zachary Miles, senior vice president for economic development at UNLV, which oversees the SBDC. “The Small Business Connector provides that door.”
Many of these no-cost services and resources are already available in SBDC’s main office, located in UNLV’s Black Fire Innovation center in the southwest valley. Opening an office in North Las Vegas City Hall extended the university’s reach to a new community of small business owners while also strengthening its partnership with the city officials.
“The impetus for UNLV was that we wanted to be a stronger community partner,” Miles said, noting that SBDC hopes to establish more offices across the valley to make the services available without undue travel. “Great communities are built around great universities, but only because they work together. Yes, we teach students, we do research, and we have sporting teams, but here's what else we are we doing to leverage our resources for the greater community.”
Simplifying the Startup Process
The city’s vision for the office, which opened in 2021 in the wake of the COVID pandemic, was to simplify the startup process for businesses, providing one single location to access all available resources, and on a face-to-face basis.
“This helped us build and grow the relationships we had with our business communities,” said North Las Vegas Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown. “It’s showed them that we genuinely care about their business success, and that we wanted to help them keep their doors open for business.”
Since the center opened in 2021, more than 1,200 businesses have been served. Many are seeking assistance with launching microbusinesses, such as food trucks and other mobile vending operations, or they are service-based professionals looking to become independent contractors.
The Connector also places an emphasis on assisting minority-, women-, and veteran-owned businesses. Since the beginning of 2024, the office has served nearly 100 minority-owned businesses and 60 women-owned businesses.
“Supporting small businesses can promote economic equity and inclusion by ensuring that all members of society have access to entrepreneurial opportunities and resources,” said Goynes-Brown. “As one of the largest minority-majority cities in the country, that is extremely important to us.”
A National Model
The Small Business Connector was recently recognized by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for its unique model as the only one-stop resource of its kind in Nevada. It's a model UNLV says they’d like to see replicated in other communities.
“There is so much value in having these services available in one spot, so people don’t have to go from place to place,” said Mejia Castillo. “It really brings joy to the people we service, and it would be great for other jurisdictions to implement their own models.”
Johnson, with Le’Host Hair & Wigs, can attest to the importance of taking a hyper-local approach. She learned of the Small Business Connector after seeing a billboard while driving down the road.
“I thought, 'I’ve got a business, and I’d love to connect!'” said Johnson. “I found their services online, but the ball really got rolling when I went to a resource fair and met the folks from the SBDC and EmployNV. You find one organization, and they start connecting you to different ones.”
Johnson worked with EmployNV to hire three of her current employees, including her salon manager, and received a small loan from Access Community Capital. She also used IT interns through the UNLV Free Cyber Clinic after her website and social media accounts were hacked.
Johnson said she encourages anyone looking to start or expand a business to reach out for assistance.
“You don’t know what you don’t know,” said Johnson. “But you can’t let what you don’t know limit you. I believe if the resources are available, it’s our responsibility to utilize them.”
To learn more or to make an appointment, .
