In her previous career as a student loan coordinator at Itawamba Community College, Angenett Curry saw firsthand the damage that Mississippi families experience when they don’t know how to manage personal finances. She witnessed families using their children’s student loans to pay the family’s bills.

“This is not right,” she remembers thinking. “I wanted to provide some education for the parents—show them how to fix their income, manage their money so they won’t have to do things like that.”

After witnessing those challenges, Curry decided to start Prospective Vision Solutions LLC, a company that runs workshops to assist families with managing their finances, credit repair, and holistic living. Curry believes that creating a personal financial game plan will ensure that families become viable citizens and business owners who nourish their community.

Her company, a certified minority-owned business, offers free financial literacy workshops in partnership with local libraries, banks, credit unions and others to help people improve their credit rating and get out of debt. Families use three tools—Vision Board, Financial Game Plan and Community Outreach—to set their goals. They then create an action plan to achieve those goals.

In 2022, Curry won a Vicksburg-based pitch competition to gain a seat in the CoBuilders accelerator, Innovate Mississippi’s 12-week program for startup businesses. During the accelerated, she says, she learned more about setting up the finances for her business—getting the corporate version of the financial education she offers families. She also learned about marketing her business and realized how important networking is, as she found that building relationships with government entities and other companies can help her grow PVS.

Curry was also selected along with four other recipients to receive a $10,000 seed award from the Mississippi Seed Fund for testing and developing her business products, marketing strategies, and customer responses.

As a result of her focus on networking and partnership to grow the business, PVS recently partnered with the City of Vicksburg to provide 90 days of credit repair services to the city’s employees.

“The workshops are my way of giving back,” Curry said. “A lot of families can’t afford credit repair. I educate them, and they can actually fix their own credit.”

Clients who continue using her services can pay a nominal fee, which helps PVS generate revenue. Curry offers one-on-one financial budgeting and training, has several books and e-books for sale, and is working on online courses to help with financial literacy. For now, her clients get access to a private Facebook group that includes 24 weeks of classes to show them how to fix their credit.

Her plan for 2023? Scale the business and grow revenues. “I want to partner with surrounding community organizations for free financial literacy workshops,” Curry said. “Then I want to double my revenues in 2023 and sell at least $10,000 in products: e-books, print books and workbooks.”