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Small business owners in Bed-Stuy receive $10,000 grant

Three business owners in Bed-Stuy got some much-needed funding Thursday.
Myriam Nicolas is the owner of Brown Butter, a coffee shop on Tompkins Avenue in Bed-Stuy that she opened up three years ago.
“I wanted to support my community, my neighborhood, and bring something to this neighborhood that I wanted to see. The money stays in the community, and I’m able to hire people from within the community so it was important for me to not only open this business, but to do it right here in my own backyard,” says Nicolas.
On Thursday, she was one of three Bed-Stuy business owners receiving a $10,000 grant thanks to Fiserv.
Fiserv is a global payments company serving clients in more than 100 countries.
“We serve small businesses with our clover platform, our Fiserv platform across the world,” says president and CEO of Fiserv Frank Bisignano. “We want to help every business in America small business is the heart of America.”
The money, Nicolas says, will come in handy
“I think now we have the opportunity to do some real marketing considering that we can’t have people sitting inside to be able to reach my customers to bring them in, so a lot of the funds will be used to do that,” says Nicolas.
As a mother of three sons she hopes to inspire not only them but other kids
“People in the neighborhood get to see someone like me opening up a business so hopefully it will be inspiring to a lot of the younger kids in the neighborhood especially kids that are at risk,” says Nicolas.
Two other businesses also received grants, Daddy Greens Pizza on Fulton Street and Brooklyn Tea on Nostrand Avenue.