NEW ORLEANS — Two local organizations are teaming up with the U.S. Small Business Administration for the 2019 Grow Now Accelerator – a seven-session program designed to help micro-entrepreneurs, working in historically underutilized areas, obtain knowledge and resources to strengthen and grow their businesses.
The Grow Now Accelerator is a program developed by LiftFund, a community small business lender, and hosted by El Centro, an organization that provides Spanish financial literacy workshops, entrepreneurial training and coaching to local Latinos. It is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. Program applications are now being accepted.
According to the organizers, the accelerator participants are typically local entrepreneurs who run small businesses within in a wide variety of different industries. Through the course of the seven-week program, they will learn key business insight on such topics as marketing and sales, business financials, access to capital and strategic growth.
LiftFund hosted its first cohort earlier this year and graduated nine small business owners. Program participants said they benefit from the program’s content and felt confident about the future of their business. One graduate noted that the program provided “great information on how to setup a sales process, manage customer relationships and even sales tips.”
Grow Now Accelerator sessions will be held every Thursday, from July 25 to September 5, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Colmex Construction (4334 Earhart Blvd).
New Orleans entrepreneurs are invited to apply for spot, but they must have been operating for at least six months. Applications are open until Monday July 15, 2019; there is no fee to apply.
