Visa launches $10,000 grant applications for Black women entrepreneurs in Miami and five other cities

Black women business owners in six U.S. cities, including Miami, can apply for $10,000 grants from Visa. The She’s Next grant program, which was announced Thursday, will accept applications until April 16. The program, in partnership with the platform IFundWomen, will select 60 winners.

The effort is part of $1 million that Visa is committing to extend mentorship and grant programs for Black female entrepreneurs who have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly three quarters of Black women business owners nationwide estimated they could not survive another year under pandemic conditions, according to a survey commissioned by Visa in February.

Applicants must be Black women in business for at least two years, with a minimum annual revenue of $24,000 or more. The business must be operating in Miami, Detroit, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago or Washington, D.C. The application is available online at ifundwomen.com/visa.

Black women are unmatched when it comes to starting small businesses, according to a 2018 report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. From 2002-2012, the number of businesses owned by Black women increased 179% compared with 52% for all women-owned businesses and 20% for businesses overall.

Visa’s announcement Thursday includes a renewed partnership with Black Girl Ventures, a national organization with a chapter in Miami. The partnership will tackle the tech needs of small businesses owned by women of color.

Web development, online marketing and graphic design are some of the tech issues that local firms owned by Black women sometimes struggle with, said Michelle McKoy, cofounder of the Miami VR Expo and a leader in the Black Girl Ventures’ Miami chapter.

“Locally, women are condensing their platforms, so if they had a physical business they are going online or finding ways to reduce their expenses because sales and normal marketing efforts have been compromised because of the pandemic. People are finding ways to pivot and survive,” McKoy said.