Emerging Business Leaders Founder Brings Cash Mob To Chicago
Emerging Business Leaders Founder Brings Cash Mob To Chicago
By Tia Carol Jones
Trey L. Scott wants to use the knowledge he learned as an entrepreneur to help other entrepreneurs. Scott decided to start his own moving company after losing his brother. Navigating his way through the ins and outs of entrepreneurship led him to create Emerging Business Leaders (EBL) in 2023. The goal of Emerging Business Leaders is to empower entrepreneurs and creatives.
Scott enlisted other entrepreneurs to do an expo where entrepreneurs could receive information about starting a business. Scott started the expo in the Greater St. Louis area where he is from. He said hosting the expos, where newly minted entrepreneurs and those considering starting a business could receive resources was a great way to show the Emerging Business Leaders’ commitment to the community.
“It’s a changing of the guard, we’re new leaders coming into this thing,” Scott said. He added that since Emerging Business Leaders was founded, the organization has been boots on the ground, helping business leaders, community members, and elected officials.
Scott partnered with Jon Laster, Founder of Blapp, an app that helps people find Black-owned businesses locally and online, and they came up with the idea to do a cash mob. Instead of people popping up to dance like a flash mob, people would pop up at a different Black-owned or minority-owned business and support them, either through purchasing items or providing resources.
Scott realized that bringing the Cash Mob to the businesses increased the purchasing power at those businesses. Along with people coming to support the businesses, EBL also brought content creators to make social media content about the businesses as a way to increase the businesses exposure.
Since the Cash Mobs began, more than 50 business owners in the city of St. Louis have benefited from it. Scott said it is a great way to pour back into the community that has been pouring into him and other entrepreneurs. He said the cash mobs have grown to include community partners, organizations, and other resources. EBL and Blapp recently visited Chicago to do a Cash Mob at Sip n’ Savor, a local Black-owned coffee shop that has several locations. Locally, Scott, Laster and EBL partnered with Side Hustle Honors, which celebrates and recognizes entrepreneurs, to do the cash mob.
Scott described that a new form of chamber of commerce is taking place, meeting with businesses and coming up with a strategy on how to assist the business owners. Scott said the business owners where the cash mob has taken place have been appreciative for the support.
Business owners told Scott that where in the past on a Saturday they made $300, on the day the cash mob was there, they made about $1,500 that day.
This Fall, Scott, BLAPP and EBL will be doing cash mobs in Ferguson, Mo. and visiting every business on the Ferguson business strip. The businesses will also be able to participate in live podcasts where they can tell their business’ origin story.
“This thing has become such a mechanism now where we have other business owners coming to patronize businesses and they are also getting recognition and they’re getting the opportunity to speak about their business,” he said.
Scott said that Sip n’ Savor was the start of a rollout of a campaign in Chicago to do cash mobs throughout the city beginning in 2026. He said the initiative is really a way to push, draw in and build revenue for minority businesses in Chicago. He said they are looking to partner with other community partners and business initiatives for the 2026 rollout.
Scott said that as a licensed minister, he lives to be able to give back to people in the community in this way. He said it has always been about giving back and pouring into God’s people and being a pillar. He said his hope with the cash mob and EBL is that business owners know they can rely on the community. Scott said he is appreciative of his team, Dominick Tice, the EBL Co-Founder and CFO; Chauntese Williams, EBL COO; and Johnelle Brown, President and Head of HR; as well as Donald James and Derricka Wilson.
For more information about Trey Scott, you can follow him @trey.l.scott and follow the Emerging Business Leaders Facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/576731172512190/. For more information about BLAPP, visit www.blappapp.com.
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