March 8 marks International Women's Day, an important day to celebrate the achievements of women throughout history and acknowledge the work ahead. This year, Visa is doubling down on its celebration of Women’s History Month with a series of new initiatives and extension of existing programs aimed to further support female small business owners, their employees and women’s economic advancement as a whole. While the spotlight is on women’s history this month, Visa remains steadfast in its present and future commitment to advancing women across all facets of life.
Collaboration with IFundWomen
Part of our commitment is developing impactful partnerships that support female founders — and small businesses more broadly – on a global scale. Today, Visa announced a partnership with IFundWomen, a funding and education platform that provides access to capital through grants and crowdfunding, expert business coaching and a network of women business owners.
The partnership is specifically designed to help entrepreneurs secure the funding they need through a series of grants contests for small businesses around the globe.
Our work with IFundWomen will serve as an extension to Visa’s global women’s entrepreneurship initiative, She’s Next, Empowered by Visa. She’s Next is poised for global expansion in 2020 after reaching thousands of women entrepreneurs in North America during its inaugural year.
Grant Contest and Global Expansion
According to Visa’s second annual “State of Female Entrepreneurship” report, nearly 66% of female entrepreneurs surveyed¹ cite that funding is still difficult to obtain. To that end, another report found that the average small business requires about $10,000 of startup capital² in order to get off the ground. To address this issue, Visa and IFundWomen, will offer four $10,000 grants to promising U.S. small businesses in May, with an expansion of global grants planned later in the year.
Applications are open through April 7, 2020 and entrepreneurs can apply at IFundWomen.com/Visa.
Resources for Entrepreneurs
Beyond the grants, the Visa and IFundWomen partnership is poised to bring coaching, peer-to-peer connections and inspiration to women entrepreneurs around the world. This includes working together on an ongoing educational series for aspiring female entrepreneurs, initiated by the launch of tailored videos. The video series will feature content covering a wide range of topics that can help female entrepreneurs run, grow and fund their businesses, including how to create a business pitch, how to determine a capital plan and how to identify your target audience and promote your business online.
- Visa 2020 State of Female Entrepreneurship Report, conducted by Logica Research on behalf of Visa to 400 adult, female small business owners in February 2020
- Well Fargo Small Business Index