The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently announced the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator (The Koffman) has been named a Stage One winner of the the 2024 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC). The Koffman will receive a $50,000 cash prize for its impactful and inclusive approach to nurturing a collaborative national innovation ecosystem to advance small business research and development (R&D) from ideas to the market.
By fostering connections between entrepreneurs, mentors, partners, philanthropies, corporations, investors, and other shared resources, GAFC 2024 catalyzes strategic ecosystem partnerships to build community and organizational capacity for the successful launch, growth, and scale of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)-based entrepreneurs.
The Koffman’s winning initiative, the Black Entrepreneur Network (BEN), is a membership and cooperative economics network activated by community engagement. The BEN will set the standard for impactful connection by providing a platform for advocacy and advancement for black-owned companies at all stages of development in the Southern Tier of New York. The name ‘BEN’ is inspired by the 18th-century thinker Benjamin Banneker, seeking to build a regional standard for inclusion, equity, and belonging for all Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individual (SEDI) entrepreneurs.
“After actively engaging over 100 minority-owned businesses in the past year, I could envision this amazing opportunity and the need to build a proactive network that ultimately benefits everyone and ensures that SEDI-, minority-, and women-owned businesses are stakeholders in the growing energy industry here in the Southern Tier.” says Associate Director of Equity and Justice, Ebony L. Hattoh, New Energy New York (NENY) at Binghamton University. Hattoh also leads the Equity in Innovation Training Series at The Koffman.
BEN will develop an interactive database of diverse businesses, encouraging cooperative economics in the SEDI community, and will provide a network of well-established minority- and women-owned businesses for domestic manufacturing and production industry partners to engage with and buy from. BEN activities will be hosted at The Koffman and will be supported by the NENY initiative, focused on supporting the domestic energy storage industry, with a hub in the Southern Tier of New York
“Creating a community that is accessible and supportive is the very key to creating a sustainable ecosystem. BEN will be a tremendous point of connection for businesses to find success by being an active member of the network and to discover new opportunities and partnerships that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. The Growth Accelerator Fund awarded by the SBA shows their commitment to and value on providing a solid foundation to programs that show promise of sustainability and growth, and we’re very grateful” says Executive Director of The Koffman, Bandhana Katoch.
Two Stages
SBA welcomed Stage One submissions from a broad range of organizations with a collaborative vision to nurture a national ecosystem for equitable access to entrepreneurship. Winners of Stage One were selected through a multi-tier review panel process with experts in entrepreneurship, business, innovation, and strategic planning both inside and out of the federal government.
Stage Two offers an additional $50,000 to $150,000 in cash prizes for Growth Accelerator Partnerships. To learn more about Stage Two opportunities and to access the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition Guidelines, please visit https://www.americasseedfund.us/accelerators
From inequity and climate change, to supporting national defense and community-driven economic prosperity, the real opportunity is now to build up innovation ecosystems and The Koffman is eager to deepen its collaborative impact in Domestic Manufacturing and Production, and Energy.
