Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. ("Santander Consumer" and "SC") recently announced that Dallas has been chosen as the site for the debut of Cultivate Small Business, a Santander U.S. hallmark initiative that helps food-service entrepreneurs in low-and-moderate-income neighborhoods. Impact Ventures, a nonprofit start-up accelerator based in Dallas, will be a corporate partner in the program with Santander Consumer.
Impact Ventures will lead a grassroots effort to identify qualified small businesses to participate in the program and local food-industry experts to serve as mentors to program participants. Impact Ventures will lead a grassroots effort to identify qualified small businesses to participate in the program and local food-industry experts to serve as mentors to program participants. Impact Ventures manages an integrated capital fund focused on empowering talented women and communities of color.
Cultivate Small Business, which was founded by Santander Bank N.A. in 2017, provides early-stage food-focused entrepreneurs with the key ingredients they need to succeed in business, such as industry-specific business management skills, technical assistance, capital grants, and access to a local network of established industry experts. Cultivate Small Business' 12-week immersive learning experience combines MBA-level education with mentorship and capital grants to empower entrepreneurs who are committed to working on their business while working in it.
According to the United States Census Bureau, minorities owned about 18.7% (1.1 million) of employer firms in 2019, while women owned roughly 20.9% (1.2 million) of all businesses. Many food-industry entrepreneurs have been badly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with numerous companies and restaurants closing their doors since the outbreak began. Entrepreneurs in the food business might benefit from Santander's Cultivate Small Business initiative. The majority of the more than 180 past Cultivate Small Business alumni say the program helped their firms grow:
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84% of participants believe that participating in the program will help them achieve their business goals.
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92% of participants were satisfied or very satisfied with the program overall.
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92% of participants feel that they will be able to translate the learnings derived from the program to their businesses.
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88% of participants would recommend the program to another entrepreneur.
All but one of the 32 enterprises in Santander's Cultivate Small Business 2020 cohort received expedited capital grant funding from Santander Bank as soon as the shutdown was imposed, and all but one of them finished the year fully operational and in business.