Beauty Supply Institute promises to help hopeful entrepreneurs run their own businesses, but instead, those entrepreneurs are facing financial struggles.
MABLETON, Ga. — A metro Atlanta company promising to help Black people run their own beauty supply business and ease them into entrepreneurship is leading some to bankruptcy instead.
Beauty Supply Institute, known as BSI, has books, videos, and conferences to market its start-to-finish service. Entrepreneurs sign service contracts to pay for BSI’s industry know-how, agreeing to let the company control the process. Depending on the package purchased, BSI’s service includes training on how to run the store and then a team to set up the shelving and supplied products.
“I was looking for mentorship, you know, a way to open the doors for me to get products and establish relationships with vendors,” explained Pauline McLaurin, who signed her contract with BSI three years ago.
She says it took most of that …