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. The program has been offered yearly since then and now supports 180 entrepreneurs annually in six major markets: Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Miami.

The program runs two cohorts each year and targets businesses that:

• are woman-, immigrant-, or BIPOC-owned businesses in the food industry
• have been in operation for at least one year at the time of application
• have revenues between $25,000 and $1,000,000 in the last calendar year

The Fall cohort supports businesses in Philadelphia, Dallas, and Miami, with classes running September through November. Applications are accepted from March through June.

The Spring cohort supports businesses in New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, with classes running from March through June. Applications are accepted from November through January.

Apply Now Info Session

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: