Pilot program to offer funding, support for female entrepreneurs

Purple Mai’a Foundation will launch Hawai’i FoundHer, an entrepreneur accelerator program that focuses on growing “wahine-led businesses” statewide through mentorship, funding and other support services.

The six-month pilot program will begin in September and be tailored specifically to the needs of Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and/or Asian women and mothers running businesses in five core markets of Hawaii’s economy: tech, fashion, health and wellness, food industry, and keiki and education.

Five applicants will be chosen. Applications are being accepted until July 1 at www.foundher.org.

“Women and especially women of color are historically overmentored and underfunded,” said Bella Hughes, cofounder of Hawai’i FoundHer. “The barriers to entry to build a new business with a clear path to profitability are increasingly more challenging and very few accelerators and incubators are designed to empower women entrepreneurs holistically.”

Purple Mai’a Foundation is a nonprofit based on Oahu. FoundHer was created by minority women for minority women in hopes to provide funding, child and elder care, workspace and mentorship.

FoundHer seeks to provide between $10,000 and $100,000 in grant funding to five Hawaii-based, for-profit, proof-ofconcept-stage businesses. At least 50 percent of the founding team must be female and of Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander or Asian descent.

According to the foundation, women entrepreneurs face many different obstacles that men do not, so FoundHer aims to grow the chosen women-led businesses by 100 to 300 percent in the year they participate in the six-month program.

“Hawai’i FoundHer is a groundbreaking program that will bring resources to female entrepreneurs in a way that has never been done before,” said FoundHer program manager Darien Siguenza. “Our multifaceted approach serves women personally and professionally, which will give them the tools they need to grow at an accelerated rate.

“I look forward to working with a group of passionate, driven women who are positively impacting Hawaii’s culture and economy, and setting the stage for diverse women to take up space in the business world.”

To learn more about the Purple Mai’a Foundation, visit www.purplemaia.org. To apply for the pilot program, visit www.foundher.org.