Bank of America expands Institute for Women’s Entrepreneurship

Bank of America has doubled enrollment opportunities for the Bank of America Institute for Women’s Entrepreneurship.

The institute is an online learning portal that provides women entrepreneurs with the knowledge, resources, and skills to manage and build a successful business at no cost. Some of the topics covered in the program are customer discovery techniques, legal considerations, funding options, product development, digital marketing, communications skills, and more.

Women are launching their own businesses at record rates. In 2017 women owned about 11.6 million businesses and employed about 9 million people, generating more than $1.7 trillion in annual revenue. 

Bank of America is adding 50,000 more seats to this program, doubling its current size. This will bring the program’s enrollment to 100,000 women entrepreneurs, mostly women of color. This expansion is just one way the many ways Bank of America is delivering on its commitment to advance racial equality and economic opportunity.

The program is open to anyone worldwide and thus far has enrolled 50,000 individuals from the U.S. and 120 additional countries, primarily women.

“We know women entrepreneurs lack the access to resources they need to manage and scale a successful business – a need that is even more acute for women of color,” said Sheri Bronstein, the chief human resources officer at Bank of America. “We continue to receive feedback from participants about how the skills they’ve gained are propelling them forward – benefiting them, their families, their businesses and employees and their communities – and we’re thrilled to expand the program further to reach more women small business owners.”

Gaybrielle LeAnn Gant of Phoenix was able to strengthen and expand her strategy design, coaching, and event consulting business, Dream Mayvn. Her business was founded to help women of color and their allies to establish, build and grow authentic ideas.

Some examples of the lessons offered are Creating Your Venture; Laying the Legal Building Blocks; Assessing and Obtaining Financial Resources; Growth Leadership for Women Entrepreneurs; Product Development and Digital Marketing; and Communication, Negotiation, and Persuasiveness.