EforAll receives $420K to expand into new markets

ENTREPRENEURSHIP for All, a Massachusetts-based accelerator, was awarded $420,000 to grow its economic-development model and expand into new markets.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP for All, a Massachusetts-based accelerator, was awarded $420,000 to grow its economic-development model and expand into new markets.

NEW BEDFORD – Entrepreneurship for All, a Massachusetts-based accelerator, was awarded $420,000 to grow its economic-development model and expand into new markets.
The Lowell-based accelerator, which also operates in New Bedford and Fall River, received the funding as a 2016 winner of The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s Inclusion Challenge. The award is given to organizations throughout the country that the foundation decides are best positioned to assist female entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs of color to “achieve higher rates of success,” according to a press release.
Entrepreneurship for All, or “EforAll,” was one of 12 organizations to receive the recognition, and the only one from New England.
“We at EforAll are thrilled to be partnering with the Kauffman Foundation as we look to expand our model of inclusive entrepreneurship to mid-sized cities across the U.S. and into other countries as well,” said EforAll CEO David Parker in prepared remarks. “The Kauffman Foundation is the most respected and well-known foundation concentrating on entrepreneurship in the world – so we couldn’t ask for a better partner.”
The accelerator, which focused on economic development and social impact through entrepreneurship in mid-sized cities, will use the funds to develop an online toolset, which it says will “enable the organization to scale its business accelerator to additional mid-sized cities across the U.S. in years to come,” according to the release.
“Entrepreneurship in America should be available to everyone, yet women and minorities continue to face more obstacles to starting businesses when it comes to accessing funding, education, mentors and markets,” said Victor Hwang, vice president of Entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation, in a statement. “The Inclusion Challenge grants will enable these outstanding support organizations to expand their services to empower more entrepreneurs and help them succeed. The nation and our economy as a whole will benefit from more entrepreneurs generating income and wealth in traditionally underserved markets.”
EforAll was selected from more than 376 applicants. A full list of recipients can be found on the Kauffman Foundation website.
The Kauffman Foundation, based in Kansas City, Mo., is one of the largest private foundations in the United States with an asset base of about $2 billion.

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