"Latina entrepreneur? Check out this unique opportunity to accelerate your business!"

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A member of our community, Bianca Cabán, is passionate about Latinas and their impact.  Currently, Latinas are paving the way in women’s entrepreneurship with a start-up rate 6 times that of the national average and with businesses that have generated $84 billion in revenue since 2007. Yet, these businesses have trouble achieving scale due to lack of access to education, capital, and networks.  Due to this, Bianca has launched AccessLatina, an organization that seeks to fill this gap and accelerate the Latina entrepreneurship impact, unleashing the true potential of our economy.

AccessLatina is a non-profit, multi-market accelerator program for Latina-owned businesses.  The organization’s mission is to enable Latinas to reach their economic potential through capital opportunities, knowledge acquisition and public policy.  Currently, AccessLatina is accepting applications for this year’s accelerator program.  The organization is targeting businesses headquartered in New York, Washington D.C., Florida, and Puerto Rico that have been in operation at least three years and in the following high-growth fields:

  • STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math)
  • Social innovation
  • Agriculture 

Through an online competition, 10 finalists will be chosen to participate in the accelerator.  The benefits of participating are invaluable, with participants having access to:

  • Business training modules on: Management, sales, marketing, fundraising, and business plan development, and more, taught by top professors and experts in the respective fields
  • Mentoring sessions
  • A high-profile network of professionals, entrepreneurs, and investors
  • Publicity
  • A $25,000 grant and crowd-funding round for each of the top 5 businesses (to be chosen at the end of the accelerator)

To apply please visit www.accesslatina.org.  The deadline for submissions is November 28, 2015.  To be part of the #ACCESSLATINA experience, follow us @AccessLatina on Facebook and Twitter, use #FUNDLATINAS on social media, and visit us at www.accesslatina.org. 

About Bianca Cabán

Bianca is a budding entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist, working on socially conscious economic revitalization projects in mainland U.S. and Puerto Rico.  Previously, she worked on Wall Street for 5 years, including stints at Credit Suisse and BlackRock, and traveled to Africa, the Middle East, and Europe building a merchant bank. Bianca grew up in the Bronx and is of Puerto Rican descent.  While growing up, she witnessed how fellow Latinas lacked access to a solid education and/or business opportunities.  As a student at Harvard College Bianca founded the Harvard Latina Empowerment and Development Conference (LEAD).  LEAD serves this segment of the population with the tools necessary to become leaders and innovators in all professional areas. Today, Bianca continues her LEAD mandate through AccessLatina.

AccessLatina is supported by the McDonough Graduate School of Business at Georgetown University, Kiva Zip, the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College, Golden Seeds, Guayacán, Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, Oriental Bank, and Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative, among other prestigious organizations, and is led by a group of dedicated social and business entrepreneurs, including founding Board Members Bianca Cabán, Lucienne Gigante, and Marta Michelle Colón.