By: Je’Don Holloway-Talley, For The Birmingham Times
Being a mentor comes naturally for business owner Jason Burroughs who has seen both sides of what it’s like to help others and be helped.
Burroughs owns C & B (Carrier and Brokered) Transportation Systems, a flatbed trucking company that he started in 2020 and has since secured contracts with billion-dollar companies and become the single supplier for diversity, equity, and inclusion for pipe and valve manufacturing company, Consolidated Pipe and Supply, Inc. (CPS Inc.)
Between 2018-2020 he worked for The Dannon Project, a Birmingham-based a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that helps unemployed or underemployed at-risk youth and returning citizens reentering society], as a program navigator and instructor before being furloughed due to COVID-19. Currently, he still serves in a mentorship and community partner role within the organization.
“I spent time going to prisons enrolling for The Dannon Project … I’ve seen thousands of individuals over the last several years reintegrate back into society and become productive, purposeful individuals,” Burroughs said. He’s also taught financial literacy at Build Up school in Titusville, churches, and other nonprofit organizations.
But he’s also been mentored. He’s participated in federally funded initiatives such as the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, the Small Business Development Agency, the Minority Business Development Agency, Team Up Cohort, and the Birmingham Business Alliance Supplier Scale INTERISE.
“Continued education and personal development helped cultivate my leadership capabilities and ability to communicate a message,” he said. “It expanded my mindset and my network, and increased my capacity to solve problems and manage projects…,”
Most of what he teaches is rooted in and extracted from biblical principles which are practical frameworks that anyone can apply to their life…,” he said.
For example, “the law of sowing and reaping [which is found several times in the Bible.] Everything reproduces after its own kind so if you want money you should sow money. If you want friendship you should sow friendship. If you want a mentor then mentor someone,” he said.
He knows the importance of mentorship and has since created a cohort called the Magic City Joint Venture (MCJV), which helps other minority-owned trucking companies secure multi-figure contracts with large corporations as well as Coach Jason Cultivates, a business coaching endeavor, which he established in October 2023.
“My coaching and mentorship program shows individuals how to become entrepreneurs through personal development and skill stacking. You have to develop your mindset, skillset, and toolset in order to be an effective entrepreneur,” he said.
Burroughs’ plan is to “turn the world upside down for God,” he said. “Every single person on earth was created with a purpose and assignment for their life. I want to help cultivate the seed of potential in entrepreneurs so they can make the impact they were put here for. The framework I’m teaching is the same framework that helped me evolve from a high school flunky to a CEO.”
