Grants, Loans, and Programs to Benefit Your Small Business

Whether you're starting a new small business or looking to grow the one you already own, finding funding can be a challenge for businesses of all sizes. 

Here are more than 100 grants, loans, and programs to benefit your small business.  

The Story Goes: Two Entrepreneurs, a Man and a Woman, Co-found a Startup and Raise Venture Capital

Let’s say that two entrepreneurs, a man and a woman, co-found a startup and raise venture capital. But the business struggles, and they shut it down and go their separate ways. Eventually, each of them independently forms a new business. Do these entrepreneurs have the same chance of getting venture capital funding for a second time?

The answer is ... 

Gender bias shapes the world of entrepreneurial financing.

Take Advantage of Every Funding Opportunity, Including SBA Loans

Although female entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses have been on the rise in the country, the disparities — especially for minority women — within the American workforce are still stark compared to male and male and female-owned businesses. Here are some statistics on women-owned businesses: 

• 22 percent of employer firms were owned by women.
• 48 percent of nonemployer firms — meaning the business had no employees — are owned by women.
• Women-owned businesses are more likely to rely on funds from personal sources, such as family and friends and savings.
• 32 percent of women-owned businesses were zero to two years old versus 16 percent of male-owned businesses. 
• Women-owned businesses make up 42 percent of all businesses in the U.S.
• Globally, women account for roughly one in three of all high-growth entrepreneurs.

In 2022, 63 percent of women entrepreneurs surveyed said they expect revenue to increase in the upcoming year and 47 percent plan to expand their business. 

Learn more about how the SBA helps women overcome financial barriers and fulfill their dreams, making it a good place to begin your search for funding.

Funding for Black Women Entrepreneurs

Dr. Cameka Smith, founder and CEO of The BOSS Network, announces the return of her organization’s 2nd annual BOSS Impact Fund. The Fund focuses on investing in Black women led businesses and preparing these entrepreneurs to build scalable, growth aggressive companies. Its goal is to raise investment funding for 500+ Black women entrepreneurs over the next three years.

Learn more about $500K in funding for black women entrepreneurs.

Business Start-Ups Get a Leg Up from University of Chicago and Tulane University

The University of Chicago and Tulane University have both recently announced they are establishing new funding mechanisms to provide investment capital that will support business start-ups.

The University of Chicago is setting aside $25 million from its endowment to invest in business startups led by faculty, students, staff and alumni. The $25 million is intended for companies that are raising Series A funding.

At Tulane University, the focus of the new start-up fund is not restricted to university faculty or staff. Instead, its Innovation Institute, founded last year, will dedicate a $10 million startup fund for New Orleans-area women and minority entrepreneurs, two groups that have historically had to overcome obstacles to their ability to attract the new capital necessary to start businesses.

Read:  Tulane, University of Chicago Allocate Millions to Support New Start-Ups

Dynamic Black Female Entrepreneurs Operating in the Skincare Industry

The 2022 ESSENCE Festival of Culture saw skincare giant Aveeno partner with ESSENCE to present the Aveeno SkinHealth Startup Accelerator Showcase Winner’s Circle on the Beauty Carnival stage. 

The grand-prize winner received $100,000 in funding for her business, while the runner-up received $50,000 in funding for her business. 

Read a little about both winners and their brands here.

Women-Owned Businesses Are the Growth Engine for the U.S. Economy

Happy day-after International Women's Day!  I hope you celebrated the successes of women entrepreneurs all over the world.

Women-owned businesses continue to be a growth engine for the U.S. economy.  The number of women-owned businesses that applied for funding in 2018 increased by 13 percent, according to an annual study of women-owned companies by Biz2Credit, a leading online credit marketplace for small companies.

But it revealed that loans for women entrepreneurs where nearly one third less than for their male counterparts.

The study also revealed that the average loan amount for women-owned companies was $48,341 last year. The most common type of funding was working capital for business expansion.

Learn more how the lending gap narrows for women business owners, but it's still 31% less than for men.

Photo by Suhyeon Choi on Unsplash.

Bias Impacts Whether Women Entrepreneurs Get Funding

Swedish researchers observing government venture capitalists over a year found that they described female and male investors quite differently, and not in a good way.

They suggested that bias, and the way those biases were phrased, may have impacted whether women got funding.

According to the Harvard Business Review article, "We Recorded VCs' Conversations and Analyzed How Differently They Talk About Female Entrepreneurs," male entrepreneurs received positive language (.e.g, bold!) about their "potential."  The women, on the other hand, tended to get a different set of comments (e.g., cautious and nervous) with emphasis on their looks.

Read more ...