Although it can be hard to become successful in the world of business as a woman or minority, statistics show black women are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs.
They have overcome any discrimination racial and gender they may have experienced in their quest for entrepreneurship.
African-American women have a higher percentage of black-owned businesses than women of other races women.
Also Read: Small Business Grants For Black Women
Grants for Black Women Entrepreneurs: A Quick Look at the Numbers
Black women own more than 36% of all black-owned companies, while women have only around 19% overall.
The remarkable rise of black women in entrepreneurship is truly inspiring.
They are the fastest-growing group of small business owners. They have experienced a 67% and 50% growth between 2007 and 2012, respectively.
Unfortunately, black women-owned companies have been among the hardest hit by the pandemic.
Many organizations have started to provide grants for black women entrepreneurs to maintain this sector. Others offer long-standing grant programs for this sector.
It can be difficult to sustain this fragile economy.
These financial assistance sources can help:
The Amber Grant
This grant is in memory of Amber Wigdahl. Amber was a nineteen-year-old black teenager who dreamed about opening her own business.
Amber passed before she could achieve her business goals, but the grant in Amber’s honour will help many young women make their dreams come true.
Women of colour often face the most difficult challenges when they start their own businesses.
Find the funds you need to make real progress.
The Amber Grant gives more than $10,000 per month to women-led proposals for business ideas and $25,000 annually to one standout company.
This grant has been active since 1998, and it is not slowing.
This organization makes it possible for young women in the world to start their own businesses through funding.
Want to find out what they want in a grant application?
This blog shares past application criticisms to help new applicants.
Also Read: 11 Best Free Grants For Women
SoGal’s Black Founder Startup Grant
SoGal Foundation is a global platform whose mission is to “close the entrepreneurship diversity gap” and invest in venture capital.
A part of their mission is to award black women a grant so that they can realize their dreams and start a business.
SoGal partners Twilio with Winky Lux, twelveNYC and Bluemercury for the selection of awardees for their $10,000- and $5,000 grants.
These awardees also have access to mentors and a rich knowledge base from SoGal Ventures.
This team will aid awardees in finding additional funding to scale up their business.
NBMBAA® Scale-Up Pitch Challenge
To provide funding opportunities for its members, the National Black MBA Association hosts a Pitch Challenge every year.
The annual awards for them include:
- 1st Place Prize of $50,000
- 2nd Place $10,000
- Prize for 3rd Place: $7,500
- People’s choice award for $1,000
For this grant money to be granted, there are certain requirements that you must meet.
- Applicants must be an NBMBAA member
- Black ownership must not exceed half of the company
- Must be 18 or older and must be a US citizen.
- The best time to pitch business ideas is in the very early stages of development.
FedEx and Fiserv are the sponsors of this challenge.
All the 2020 winners were black female entrepreneurs. You can now imagine your name, picture and application to be on their grant list for next year.
Also Read: Spring River Greater China Fund modifies stake in Canaan Inc. (NASDAQ:CAN)
iFundWomen
iFundWomen lists a variety of grant opportunities for female empowerment. Their website includes a list of grants available to small businesses from various organizations.
This site should absolutely be a planned stop on any search by minority women for business financing.
One example of the grants available for black women entrepreneurs is the Visa He’s Next grant program for Black Women-owned Businesses. The grant program provided $10,000 grants to 60 different small-business owners.
The American Express * IFundWomen Of Color 100 for 100 Program provides another funding opportunity that is specially tailored for black women.
These grants are awarded to business owners who have developed intelligent business plans. One hundred days of support are provided to black businesses.
NASE Growth Grants
Many of its members are eligible for $4,000 business grants from the National Association of the Self-Employed.
To be eligible for these grants, you must be a member of good standing.
The association will review your application to determine whether the grant is necessary and what potential impacts it could have on your business.
In return, the association requests the recipient to place a NASE emblem on their website for one year after they have received the grant.
Minority Business Development Agency
You can check the website frequently to see the most recent grant competitions, as the grants offered through the Minority Business Development Agency may vary.
Before you can apply for a grant from the MBDA, your company must be registered. First, register your business. Next, download the application from Grants.gov.
The MBDA recommends you attend the pre-application teleconference for every grant before you start writing your application. It will help you better understand grant requirements and increase your application’s chances of acceptance.
Build Your Legacy
The Building Your Legacy grant is offered by Essence & PineSol. It allows one black woman to be awarded $100,000.
The grant includes six months of mentoring with Nicole Walters (a successful businesswoman). They also offer video lessons to help women who run a business.
FedEx Small Business Grant Contest
FedEx is a strong promoter of small businesses. In addition to the numerous grants they provide to other organizations and companies, FedEx also has their own grant program, which offers big prizes.
They give $50,000 to the 1st winner of their grant contest and $7,500 in FedEx printing.
The second-place winner wins $30,000 plus $5,000 from FedEx Printing Services, while the third-place winner takes $15,000 with $1,000 from FedEx Printing Services.
Federal Grants
The Federal Government grants millions of dollars every year through different grant programs.
Many small business owners become so intimidated by the process of applying for federal government grants that it is difficult for them to receive financial aid.
The government must have noticed the timidity of many businesses by creating a wealth of grant writing tips, mentorship and mentoring on their online learning centre.
Read articles or watch Youtube videos to understand the process and boost your determination to apply for these grants.
How To Improve Your Odds of Being a Grant Recipient
Applying for grants can be time-consuming and frustrating if there are no success stories for several years.
One thing is certain.
It takes determination to persevere, and the greater your chances of success, the more you apply.
But you can increase your odds of being granted a grant. You can also get funding for your nonprofit through more than numbers.
Here are some ways to give grant applications more weight
Meet the Requirements
If you’re looking for grant opportunities, it is easy to get carried away and feel overwhelmed by the amount of the award.
But if your application is not carefully reviewed, you might waste your time applying.
When you are considering a grant, make sure you read all of the details and determine if you are eligible.
Sometimes you may not be eligible, but you just need to join the group or make a few changes to become eligible.
Respect the Application Structure
Each grant has its own request application structure.
However, most include two parts: the packaging guidelines and the application guidelines.
Follow their structure in your application.
To help determine whether your business is viable and what you hope to accomplish with the grant money, grant competitions often ask you to answer certain questions.
Failure to answer any of these questions will result in the person not having enough information to make an informed decision.
While you should give them a clear answer, don’t forget to mention a good reason they should award you this grant.
The packaging requirements for grant applications are very specific and will require you to follow submission guidelines.
It would be an injustice to miss out on grants because your font or envelope was too small.
Be Unique!
Most grants receive hundreds of proposals. You must make your proposal stand out in order to be chosen as a recipient.
Write your proposal in your own words.
If the judges aren’t convinced of the value of your company, how can they give you a grant?
Provide visuals for your data to help your application grab the judge’s attention. This can take the form of a graph or table that highlights your company’s strengths.
A professional can help you.
Some small business owners might not be skilled writers. Even those with higher education might find writing grant proposals a challenge.
Participating in the writing of your proposal is a great way to be the voice of your company. A professional grant writer is also an option.
This allows you to ensure that your proposal is free of typos and grammatical errors. It will also help to improve the flow, coherence, and organization of your submission.
If your proposal is concise and well written, you will have a better chance of winning a grant competition.
Use Real Data to Tell Your Story
While it is wonderful to have dreams, companies don’t always give money because of big dreams.
Your proposal should be reasonable. You must also have strong data to support your claims. All grant judges are interested in knowing how you plan to spend the money and what you anticipate accomplishing with it.
Don’t promise too much and make unrealistic promises. Many grant applications get rejected because they are unrealistic.
Find out more about the Association or Company.
Depending upon their overall mission, different companies or organizations will search for different businesses to back.
A nonprofit organization will, for example, be more likely than a business to receive a grant if it has the same values.
You can find small grants for technical services if your company is small.
The greater your likelihood of being granted grants by the company or association, the closer you will be to them.
Even if your association or company doesn’t have a common purpose, you still can benefit from learning about their motivations. Next, you can use that information to help improve your submission.
Learn More About Past Winners
An additional way to increase your chances of being selected is to review the grant recipients in previous years.
Research is key to finding commonalities among the past recipients. This information will help you better understand the requirements of grant judges and how to be the next winner.
Conclusion
The overall safety of investors is better with women-led companies.
BCG/MassChallenge conducted a study that showed that women entrepreneurs are more likely to have access to capital than men and still generate more revenue.
Although black women entrepreneurs may have a harder time getting small business loans or other types of funding, they will still succeed.
They will have a better chance of succeeding if they are able to get more help. Their success is a sign of their ability to offer valuable services and products to the world.
