In an effort to specifically support Black women-owned small businesses, Visa is extending their partnership with IFundWomen through a new series of grants and educational resources. Ten $10,000 grants will go to Black women in the U.S. to help them run and grow their businesses.
Through this program, Visa is committed to providing Black women entrepreneurs with access to the capital, coaching, and connections they need to grow their businesses during this challenging time.
The program criteria are as follows:
• Must be a Black women-owned business
• Must be located in the United States
• Must have a minimum annual revenue of $24K or more
• Must have been in business for 2+ years
• Must be a business that has a product or service in market and generating revenue
• Must be a growing business
• Must be a consumer product or service (B2C)
• Must have a compelling digital presence and supporting media
“The $10,000 is not a random number,” says Suzan Kereere, Visa’s global head of Merchant Sales and Acquiring told Forbes. “For many entrepreneurs, when they look for seed funding or funding to go from proof of concept to launch, the sweet spot is about $10,000. The $8,000 to $14,000 range is the amount of capital you need to get an ordinary small business off the ground. One of the reasons so few businesses make it into the venture capital stage is the majority will need about that much capital to get started. We’ve got to give them the kind of capacity and elasticity they need that works at the scale the majority live in.”
