Rhode Island-based entrepreneur David Owoyemi was in the midst of launching a new company called VentureNation in August 2022, but he was no stranger to startups. After all, he first entered the entrepreneurial world a decade ago. But after connecting with Hubbell Rodriguez, co-founder and CEO of Providence-based New Majority Capital, that summer, Owoyemi soon found himself starting another business with an approach he had never considered before: entrepreneurship by acquisition. “Before that call with Hubbell, I hadn’t thought about it like that,” Owoyemi said. But curiosity and the certainty of New Majority Capital’s backing tempted Owoyemi to try a new venture. In addition to his leadership of Venture Nation, Owoyemi is now the owner of Darien Lawn & Tree Care, a decades-old landscaping company based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Founded in 2022, New Majority Capital aims to use this entrepreneurship by acquisition model to increase opportunities for underrepresented entrepreneurs, including women and people of color. The model is simple: It connects individuals who want to own a business with existing business owners who want to retire or sell their business. But many people have never heard of entrepreneurship by acquisition, and those who have often don’t have the capital needed to acquire a business, says Darryl Lindy, co-founder and president of New Majority Capital. “This isn’t a new concept, but we see an opportunity to bring this to a wider audience. [entrepreneurs]”That’s what we do,” Lindy says. “Not everyone can inject hundreds of thousands of dollars of capital to fund their business.” Lindy is well-positioned to convince aspiring entrepreneurs that entrepreneurship by acquisition is a viable path. In July 2023, Lindy acquired her own company, AA Thrifty Sign & Awning, in Warwick. To date, New Majority Capital has helped 12 entrepreneurs follow the same path, injecting $75 million in capital in the process, according to Lindy. Based out of the Social Enterprise Greenhouse co-working space, the company works with entrepreneurs across the United States, with five of its completed deals being in New England. Additionally, New Majority Capital works with more than 200 entrepreneurs who are actively looking to acquire a business, Lindy says, with about 25 of them reaching the fundraising and closing stage. New Majority Capital was founded with the backing of Papitto Opportunity Connection and RI Commerce Corp. and is also in the process of raising capital for its own private equity buyout fund, NMC Fund 1. In addition to providing capital and mentorship to entrepreneurs, New Majority Capital runs two educational courses, bETA and Succession Ready. The company’s outreach and education efforts go beyond entrepreneurs, Lindie says. Existing business owners also often haven’t heard of entrepreneurship by acquisition as an option to sell their company. “We have so many small businesses in Rhode Island, and many of them don’t realize they have options,” Lindie says. “These are challenges, but they’re also opportunities.” And for business owners who want to move forward without closing their businesses, handing over their work allows them to continue operating while providing opportunities for new owners. In Owoyemi’s case, Darien Lawn & Tree Care’s former owner, Jonathan Sweeney, had been in business for 40 years and was nearing retirement age, Owoyemi says. Convincing Sweeney that he was the right person to take over the business took extra effort, Owoyemi said, especially since he had no experience working in the landscaping industry. “I didn’t have that background, so there was the challenge of convincing someone I didn’t know that I was going to take care of his loved ones and do what he wanted to accomplish with this business,” Owoyemi said. But after the deal was closed, overcoming that first hurdle was a big payoff. Compared to acquiring a business, starting from scratch is “not impossible, but very difficult,” Owoyemi said, especially in the technology field. “You never know if people are going to buy into what you’re doing.” Plus, hiring a team and securing a physical location takes a lot of effort and money, Owoyemi said. Meanwhile, when he took over as leader of Darien, it was a stark contrast. From day one, Owoyemi had 10 employees with an average tenure of 10 years. And the headquarters was well-established. And while the entrepreneurship-by-acquisition model is still relatively new to Owoyemi, his experience has made him a proponent of the concept. [do this coming from] “It’s across a range of industries,” Owoyemi says. “It’s truly life-changing.”
