Santander's Cultivate Small Business program provides education, coaching, and small capital grants to early stage food entrepreneurs in low-income neighborhoods, with a focus on supporting food businesses owned by women, people of color, and immigrants.

The entrepreneurs have typically been in business for a year or more, are doing $25,000-$1,000,000 in revenue and have at least one full-time employee (which can be the entrepreneur, themselves). 

Throughout the program, each participant develops an action plan to grow their business. A key part — and often the most meaningful to participants — is the one-on-one mentoring with a seasoned industry professional. The time commitment to be a mentor is approximately 3 hours (a minimum of 3 one-hour meetings) between April 19th and the end of June, 2022.