Jonesboro, AR — (JonesboroRightNow.com) — June 24, 2025 — For the past seven years, the Over A Cup Initiative has been dedicated to supporting women entrepreneurs in Northeast Arkansas build, establish, and grow businesses in the community.
Over A Cup is a nonprofit organization supporting Northeast Arkansas women entrepreneurs, particularly Black women entrepreneurs. Since its founding in 2018, the organization has grown to around 200 women in the ideation phase of starting a business or working on an ongoing one.
“The reality is one of the reasons why I started the Over A Cup initiative, and even now, was the intentionality to support women entrepreneurs,” said Over A Cup Initiative founder and president Shunqetta N. Cunningham.
“Statistically, whether you look at the American Express report or the nearest banking report, it will all point to the same number … that less than 0.02% of all loan funding, capital funding, even in our local community, goes to Black women businesses,” she continued. “We don’t have the financial structure and support of most traditional businesses, even though we’re the fastest growing segment, as substantiated by the Chamber of Commerce reports.”
Cunningham said before starting the nonprofit, she frequently traveled to Little Rock and other areas with minority groups and businesses to “address some of those barriers.” However, she said the out-of-town traveling became difficult.
“God really prompted me to say, ‘What you’re seeking for, you can start right here,’ and that’s how we started at a local coffee shop over a cup of coffee in January 2018 and we’ve been meeting ever since.”
Meetings will have anywhere from 10 to 30 women at a time and feature guest speakers to cover various business topics, such as setting a budget, protecting one’s brand, or how to seek grant funding. These monthly meetings are held every fourth Saturday at 9 a.m. Locations can be found on the Over A Cup Facebook page. Sign up here for event updates.
According to Cunningham, the U.S. Department of Labor states that women, in particular minority women, are developing businesses in the non-traditional format. For example, someone may work a full-time job in the day but freelance by night, or someone may cater on the weekends while working a different job during the week.
“The banking system has not caught up to how people are extending themselves to generate more income,” she said. “We even see it locally. I often share that I’m praying for the day that we really have a banking champion that understands that and are ready to meet Black women entrepreneurs and even women entrepreneurs in general.”
Over A Cup partners with Community Development Financial Institutions, or CDFIs, which supports people who may not have the best credit history or many assets. The organization has partnered with FORGE and Southern Capital, among other CDFIs.
“They work alongside institutions. They’ll start you off at a $2,500 loan or a $5,000 loan so that you can build up that history and be prepared to take out larger amounts of capital to grow your business at a traditional institution,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham added that while Over A Cup relies on several CDFIs, the organization would love to partner with traditional banks in the future too.
The organization has other ways of helping entrepreneurs, including the Over A Cup Business Boost Fund and the Leveraging Expertise to Accelerate Profit (L.E.A.P.) Academy Business.
The fund provides money for smaller business expenses, such as business cards, website upgrades or essential supplies. The academy, launched in 2022, is an application-based program teaching business owners how to revamp a business model, improve financial structures and more. Since the academy’s launch, 30 women have graduated. The academy lasts eight to 10 weeks.
The Cohort IV will be held this fall, Cunningham said. For questions regarding the application or program, email oacwomen@gmail.com or call 501-404-8942.
Within the next 10 years, Cunningham said the nonprofit wants to produce as many six-figure businesses earners as possible.
“That’s the main goal is to not only just have a community and a gathering, but to have some tangibles in that we see women businesses hit that six-figure mark and beyond consistently. And the long-term vision is to truly have a training institute that couples women entrepreneurship and family; because that’s not exclusive,” Cunningham said. “We teach that it’s faith, family, finance and equally while providing as much education as possible.”