Cultivate Small Business
Building and Sustaining Early-Stage Businesses
Santander’s award-winning Cultivate Small Business (CSB) helps early-stage entrepreneurs build and sustain businesses in the food industry, with a focus on historically underserved founders in low-to-moderate income communities. CSB is a free 12-week MBA-style program that provides a customized curriculum through live virtual classes. Successful graduates leave the program with a fully formulated business plan and pitch, a strong grasp on their target market, financials, and growth goals, and up to $20,000 in capital grants.
The program provides:
- Live virtual classes taught by Babson College professors
- Curriculum built for food business owners
- A network of fellow food entrepreneurs and industry experts
- Capital grant awards from $2,500 up to $20,000
Upcoming Cohorts
Apply now to the Fall 2025 cohort, open to entrepreneurs in Rhode Island, Connecticut, the Greater Boston, Philadelphia, New York City, or Miami areas. The cohort will run virtually for 12 weeks from September 4th to November 20th.
Early application deadline: May 20, 2025
Regular admission deadline: July 8, 2025
Cohort Eligibility
Any entrepreneur leading an early-stage food business that meets the criteria below is eligible to participate:
- In operation for at least one year as of March 1, 2025
- Have 1-10 FTEs (full-time equivalent) employees
- Revenues between $25,000 and $1,000,000 in the last calendar year
- Located in Rhode Island, Connecticut or the Greater Boston, Philadelphia, New York City or Miami area
Email CultivateSmallBusiness@santander.us with questions or for additional program details.
Partners
Cultivate Small Business is fully funded by Santander. The program is a collaboration between Santander, Babson College, and ICIC.