Cincinnati’s Minority Business Accelerator has received a six-figure grant from a Midwest-based foundation that will help it expand entrepreneurial opportunities for emerging Black-owned businesses in the region.
The PNC Foundation, the charitable arm of PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE:PNC), said Wednesday it awarded a $300,000 grant to Cincinnati’s Minority Business Accelerator to help address racial equity in the city, specifically in the areas of economic empowerment and entrepreneurship.
The two-year grant will provide the accelerator, a development initiative of the Cincinnati Chamber, opportunities to offer additional resources to emerging Black-owned business enterprises.
Through the initiative, PNC will work with the Minority Business Accelerator to identify and provide technical assistance annually to at least 15 high-potential Black-owned businesses as part of the accelerator’s efforts to grow its portfolio.
To identify these businesses, many more will be analyzed and reviewed with a goal of seeding an even greater number of businesses for the future.
Over two years, the grant will look to identify and support more than 30 businesses over the course of the project, each with the ability to generate more than $1 million in annual revenue.
“PNC’s relationship with the Minority Business Accelerator is designed to address a disparity in Cincinnati’s startup landscape,” Kay Geiger, PNC regional president for Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, said in a release. “PNC is committed to leveraging the power of our resources to help move all forward.”
The initiative will provide participants with access to a combination of the Minority Business Accelerator's full-time staff and a pool of consultants and subject matter experts. Its services include strategy and growth plan development; preparation for and access to new client opportunities; and marketing support.
PNC employees will engage with the businesses in the Minority Business Accelerator’s portfolio to provide financial education courses and additional small business technical assistance, such as financial assessments.
“Creating a pipeline of high-potential Black-owned and operated businesses is the core of our work,” Darrin Redus, CEO of the Minority Business Accelerator, said. “Our relationship with PNC will further accelerate our collective efforts as we emerge from the ongoing pandemic.”
Late last year, the Minority Business Accelerator landed a major $1.5 million federal grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration aimed at boosting technology entrepreneurship. The accelerator was among several organizations that received the largest individual grants.
Since its founding in 2003, the accelerator has created a portfolio of more than 60 Black and Latino-owned businesses with average annual revenues of about $30 million apiece, with a goal is to grow the annual revenues of the region’s minority business enterprises by $1 billion and create 2,000 jobs by October 2024.
PNC Foundation, which receives its principal funding from Pittsburgh-based PNC, focuses its philanthropic efforts on early childhood education and community and economic development, which includes the arts and culture.
In April, PNC announced a plan to provide $88 billion in loans, investments and other financial support for low- and moderate-income individuals and communities, people and communities of color, and other underserved individuals and communities over a four-year period beginning Jan. 1.
PNC is the third-largest bank in Greater Cincinnati, with $9.17 billion in local deposits, per Courier research.
