UPS Logistics Launchpad to Smooth Out Supply Chains for Atlanta’s Black-Owned Startups
A new UPS-backed fulfillment center at one of Atlanta’s central nodes for Black-owned businesses in Atlanta is aiming to ease one of the main headaches for startups offering physical goods, especially in today’s tumultuous world: supply chains.
Launched Wednesday, the Logistics Launchpad at the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs aims to not only help young companies get their products to market, but also to educate them on the processes of sourcing and shipping.
“Supply chains are complicated; global supply chains are really complicated, so we are going to teach people,” said Carol Tomé, UPS’s CEO, who played up the center’s educational component and noted that it aligns with UPS’s goals to grow its business while investing in its hometown.
“It’s a win-win all day long,” she said, noting that UPS will grow its business as these young Atlanta companies grow theirs.
The facility, located on the grounds of RICE, contains a UPS Store within and includes a training space, 3D printers for prototyping and a small warehouse space operated by Ware2Go, an on-demand warehouse space and fulfillment firm owned by UPS.
Ware2Go CEO Stephen Denton told Global Atlanta that the idea for the site stemmed from conversations with RICE CEO Jay Bailey and member companies, including a toy manufacturer that was shipping puzzles out of her trunk.
“That’s how you start; you start scrappy,” Mr. Denton said, relaying how many entrepreneurs being from a garage or storage unit. But Ware2Go can help them professionalize their processes and focus on growth, he added. “The whole concept is to let them focus on the things that they’re really good at: making products, selling products, providing good service — we’ll handle the supply chain.”
Kevin Warren addresses gathered attendees at RICE’s new UPS Logistics Launchpad.
A small warehouse along with a UPS Store are located inside the facility
Guests gathered to celebrate the Launchpad’s opening Wednesday.
He bought into UPS’s educational motive as well.
“Think about it as a supply chain university,” Mr. Denton said of the Launchpad, adding that Ware2Go will help small companies sourcing from abroad navigate which ports to bring their goods into and how to get them cleared through customs. When they sell domestically, Ware2Go ships out any orders received before 3 p.m. on the same day and promises two-day shipping anywhere in the United States.
Exports will be a bit more complex, given compliance requirements, but Ware2Go’s tech platform can offer small and medium-sized companies fulfillment starting from the end of their manufacturing line, pooling shipments from many firms together to get “economies of scale” they wouldn’t be able to achieve on their own. That means cheaper storage and shipping, all without owning their own infrastructure.
Mr. Bailey, the RICE CEO, said the Launchpad will be a game-changer for the businesses that the 54,000-square-foot innovation center is supporting in an effort to build generational wealth in the Black community. It’s one more part of RICE’s effort to “manufacture hope at scale” for communities that need it.
Simone Edmonson is one of those RICE stakeholders who believes the Launchpad will up her game.
The CEO of Dreams and Jammies, which inspires children of color by reflecting their faces and aspirations in their pajamas, currently sources her products from China, ships them to Atlanta mostly via ocean freight and fulfills online orders on her website from home.
“Everything in stages, but eventually I just see my products being here and not in my garage,” said Ms. Edmonson, who says she has developed a friendship with her UPS driver. “And then I can have my house back!”
As with most entrepreneurs, access to capital is vital, but mentorship on the supply chain and e-commerce fronts has been invaluable, she said.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, whose help inaugurating the center came just after the launch of Atlanta Innovation Week, lauded UPS for the educational component of the new offering, because “that knowledge is power that they can turn into capital.”
Kevin Warren, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at UPS, said in his remarks the Launchpad aligns with the company’s mission of “moving our world forward by delivering what matters.”
Mr. Warren noted that the company doesn’t just want to sell to small and medium-sized enterprises, but to invest in them as well.
“We believe there is symmetry between doing good and moving goods.”
