Students, Alumni, and Community Members Are All Welcome to Apply
Calling all entrepreneurs…or would-be entrepreneurs! Local entrepreneurs have the chance to participate in an entrepreneurial boot camp and pitch competition offered through the Universities at Shady Grove’s Lab for Entrepreneurship and Transformative Leadership.
The Equity Incubator program is a supportive entrepreneurship boot camp that helps local small businesses launch start-up companies or take an existing small business to scale. This spring’s eight-week session will be the fifth iteration since the program was launched in fall 2021.
Equity Incubator participants gain valuable entrepreneurial skills and develop strategies to improve their venture’s chance of success, while receiving business mentorship and the opportunity to build a network of key contacts that they can turn to for advice and support. They learn the art of customer discovery, opportunity recognition, the entrepreneurial mindset, design thinking, business modeling, how to be bankable, personal selling, marketing, pitching, and more.
Through eight weeks of online assignments, weekly in-person workshops, and mentor sessions, participants gain critical entrepreneurial skills to develop their ideas. Entrepreneurs and businesses who are selected to participate in the incubator receive a $3,000 stipend (upon full program completion) to help in launching or advancing their business venture.
The program is broken into three tracks: one for entrepreneurs with a new business idea that hasn’t yet been established; a second for recently established businesses that are looking to scale; and a third, for more established businesses – who have already gained traction and are looking to grow to the next level or launch a new product or service. Finalists will have the chance to compete for a grand prize.
The Spring 2024 Equity Incubator will kick off on February 21. Applications are being accepted between now and December 22. Interviews will be conducted on a rolling basis. The program will accept 100 entrepreneurs to take part in the Spring 2024 cohort. Those interested in applying may do so online.
The Equity Incubator program is funded, in part, through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.
For more information about the Spring 2024 Equity Incubator, please contact usg-labetl@umd.edu.