Call for Cultivate Small Business Cohort 5 applicants

Mona Ahmad decided to leave her job at a bank in Boston to take care of her daughter and newborn twins. But more time at home allowed her to cook her traditional family meals—that’s when her love for cooking really took off. Ahmad turned her passion into a business by pairing her extraordinary talent with education and mentoring provided through the Cultivate Small Business program — a recipe for success! Watch this segment from Boston25 News to learn more about the founder and CEO of Mona’s Curryations’s entrepreneurial journey.

Cultivate Small Business is a FREE dynamic education and training program created specifically to help early-stage food entrepreneurs (focused on women, people of color, and immigrants) build strong businesses.

Open to food businesses of all types, including restaurants, food trucks, bakers, food tech, and packaged goods companies. It’s ideal for people who have been running their food business for at least a year and are looking to strengthen their skills, knowledge, and peer network.

The program is completely virtual and open to any food businesses based in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York.

WHAT’S INCLUDED IN CULTIVATE SMALL BUSINESS?

• Classes on topics including marketing, menu and product costing, cash flow management, and business finance taught by professors from Babson College.
• Dedicated mentorship from food industry professionals
• Support from a powerful network of entrepreneurs
• The chance to apply for up to $10,000 in capital grants to support your business

IS IT REALLY FREE?! YES!!

The program is sponsored by Santander Bank US and run in partnership with Babson College, Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, CommonWealth Kitchen, LAEDA, Empowering People, and Columbia-Harlem SBDC.

LEARN MORE AT AN UPCOMING INFO SESSION

• Tuesday, January 11th at 11am
• Monday, January 24th at 6pm

Sign up for the info session, by clicking here.

The 16-week program runs April – June 2022 and requires a commitment of about five hours/week.

Applications are due January 28, 2022. Apply here