Santander’s Cultivate Small Business (CSB) program is designed to support the growth of early-stage woman-, BIPOC-, and immigrant-owned food businesses in emerging neighborhoods. The 12-week virtual program is completely free to entrepreneurs and provides participants with industry specific education, networking, and small capital grants for business owners.

ICIC is one of Santander’s strategic partners in this initiative, which also includes CommonWealth Kitchen and Babson College. The fully-funded program began in October 2017 with an inaugural group of 30 entrepreneurs working in food-related businesses, including processing, technology, manufacturing, and food service companies.

Food-related businesses were chosen for the pilot program focus due to their diversity, size, and number of small businesses within the category. ICIC research shows that when cities have “clusters” of related industries, their economies are associated with greater growth in business numbers, job creation, wages, and innovation. The food cluster in Greater Boston is poised for growth and already represents a greater share of employment than exists in other cities.

By connecting early stage entrepreneurs in the same related business sector, this initiative addresses the education and mentoring needs of program participants with a customized model over a nine-month period.

Apply

The Cultivate Small Business program is accepting applications from businesses based in Dallas, Miami, and Philadelphia for cohort 10. The classes will run from early September to the end of November, with graduation in December 2024. The application window closes on Monday, June 17, 2024.

APPLY NOW

Attend an Information Session

Questions about the program? Attend an official information session on Wednesday, May 22, or Tuesday, June 11. At the session, you will:

• Learn about the program structure and timing
• Hear from a program alumnus about their experience
• Review eligibility criteria and details about the application process
• Participate in Q&A

REGISTER

Cultivate Small Business aims to empower women, immigrant, and minority entrepreneurs in food-related industries and to give them the building blocks to be successful business owners.  For additional program details, please email Sonia Moin at smoin@icic.org.

Partners

ICIC is proud to work with dedicated partners on the Cultivate Small Business program: