SBA Awards $50,000 Grant to AccelerateHER(TM) for Its Women's Business Accelerator, The JunipHER Project
The grant will be used to add new content and training modules for the virtual business accelerator.
Williamsburg, VA, September 16, 2016 --(PR.com)-- AccelerateHER™ of Williamsburg, VA recently received a $50,000 grant for its JunipHER Project, a program launched in January 2016 to help mid-stage women business owners (WBOs) achieve growth.
The grant was one of 68 awarded by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Investment and Innovation, Office of Native American Affairs, and Office of Veterans Business Development along with the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and Department of Education as part of its third annual Growth Accelerator Fund Competition.
“Through this national competition, we are empowering accelerators which are led by and support women or other underrepresented groups,” says SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet.
The JunipHER Project was created by CEO Zee Worstell and COO Francine Spinelli to provide the tools, training and support to assist mid-stage WBOs with strategically scaling toward the million-dollar mark. The two women have each owned and operated multiple businesses as well as assisted other WBOs for the past five years through their firm AccelerateHER.
“This grant will allow us to create new content and add new training modules including Employee Management, and Funding Options and Tactics,” explains Worstell. “We will continue to optimize our virtual platform, add new features, further enhance our security measures, and add a metrics-tracking component for better data collection.”
“Our JunipHER Project is unique in that it is 100 percent virtual so women can join our program from anywhere,” explains Spinelli. “We focus on mid-stage women-owned businesses who have reached a plateau and need help scaling their business to grow. We work with them for a full year because we know that many of them have other responsibilities on top of running their business and they need to be able to work at their own pace.
“The grant will also allow us to develop and launch a construction-focused program and develop another new vertical program by next spring,” adds Spinelli.
In accepting the funds from the SBA, The JunipHER Project has committed to quarterly reporting of results for one year, including jobs created, corporate sponsors obtained and start-ups launched. The 138 SBA grant winners from 2014 and 2015 have worked with 5,000 companies that have raised $1.5 billion and employ nearly 20,000 people.
Applications for this year’s SBA grant program were judged by more than 100 experts with entrepreneurial, investment, start-up, economic development, capital formation and academic backgrounds from both the public and private sector. For more information, visit https://www.sba.gov/offices/headquarters/ooi/resources/1428931.
About The JunipHER Project
Only 18 percent of women-owned businesses grow past the microenterprise stage and only two percent achieve more than $1 million in yearly revenue. The JunipHER Project was launched to help these mid-stage WBOs. The remote business accelerator plans to have six classes of participants in 2016 and launch one per month in 2017. For more information, visit www.thejunipherproject.com or call 1-800-864-8860.
The grant was one of 68 awarded by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Investment and Innovation, Office of Native American Affairs, and Office of Veterans Business Development along with the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and Department of Education as part of its third annual Growth Accelerator Fund Competition.
“Through this national competition, we are empowering accelerators which are led by and support women or other underrepresented groups,” says SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet.
The JunipHER Project was created by CEO Zee Worstell and COO Francine Spinelli to provide the tools, training and support to assist mid-stage WBOs with strategically scaling toward the million-dollar mark. The two women have each owned and operated multiple businesses as well as assisted other WBOs for the past five years through their firm AccelerateHER.
“This grant will allow us to create new content and add new training modules including Employee Management, and Funding Options and Tactics,” explains Worstell. “We will continue to optimize our virtual platform, add new features, further enhance our security measures, and add a metrics-tracking component for better data collection.”
“Our JunipHER Project is unique in that it is 100 percent virtual so women can join our program from anywhere,” explains Spinelli. “We focus on mid-stage women-owned businesses who have reached a plateau and need help scaling their business to grow. We work with them for a full year because we know that many of them have other responsibilities on top of running their business and they need to be able to work at their own pace.
“The grant will also allow us to develop and launch a construction-focused program and develop another new vertical program by next spring,” adds Spinelli.
In accepting the funds from the SBA, The JunipHER Project has committed to quarterly reporting of results for one year, including jobs created, corporate sponsors obtained and start-ups launched. The 138 SBA grant winners from 2014 and 2015 have worked with 5,000 companies that have raised $1.5 billion and employ nearly 20,000 people.
Applications for this year’s SBA grant program were judged by more than 100 experts with entrepreneurial, investment, start-up, economic development, capital formation and academic backgrounds from both the public and private sector. For more information, visit https://www.sba.gov/offices/headquarters/ooi/resources/1428931.
About The JunipHER Project
Only 18 percent of women-owned businesses grow past the microenterprise stage and only two percent achieve more than $1 million in yearly revenue. The JunipHER Project was launched to help these mid-stage WBOs. The remote business accelerator plans to have six classes of participants in 2016 and launch one per month in 2017. For more information, visit www.thejunipherproject.com or call 1-800-864-8860.
Contact
The JunipHER Project
Laurie Anderson
800-864-8860
thejunipherproject.com
Laurie Anderson
800-864-8860
thejunipherproject.com
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