Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce
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Location |
Cincinnati, OH |
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|---|---|---|
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Build to Scale Program |
Venture Challenge |
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Project Name |
Cincinnati Minority Business Accelerator's Bridging the Racial Divide to Enhance Innovation & Entrepreneurship |
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Award Amount |
Federal Share |
Local Match |
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$1.5 million |
$1.5 million |
The Cincinnati Minority Business Accelerator’s mission is to accelerate the development of sizeable minority-owned businesses and strengthen and expand the minority entrepreneurial community through access to capital and other resources to achieve sustainable growth. The accelerator has created a portfolio of over 60 African American- and Latino-owned businesses with average annual revenues of approximately $30 million each. Through the “Bridging the Racial Divide to Enhance Innovation & Entrepreneurship” project, the accelerator will scale its existing model. Founded in 2003, the accelerator is the leading model in the country for supporting and growing larger-scale minority business enterprises (MBEs). The accelerator is positioned to scale its efforts through four strategic pillars:
- GROW firm revenues
- BUILD a pipeline of high growth businesses
- ATTRACT larger-scale businesses, and
- CREATE MBEs through acquisition.
The accelerator aims to motivate and prepare diverse leaders through a collaborative environment that encourages creativity, innovation, and communication, while also brokering critical connections in the business community. By October 2024, the accelerator will grow the annual revenues of the region’s MBEs by $1 billion and create 2,000 new jobs. The accelerator is a model for cities nationwide that are committed to a just economy and eager to address the lingering economic disparities facing communities.