By Sholnn Z. Freeman
Howard University, in partnership with Fiserv, Inc. and humble ventures, is announcing that applications are open for the first cohort of the GrowHU program – Howard’s growth-focused accelerator for entrepreneurs.
The GrowHU accelerator aims to bring together Howard University and the broader HBCU community through a growth-focused accelerator for diverse founders scaling their businesses. The program is open to Howard University and other HBCU-affiliated entrepreneurs and is designed to help companies advance to the next level of growth by providing sales and marketing support. To be considered, companies must have an established repeatable sales process and generate either $10,000 of monthly recurring revenue or have close to $1 million in lifetime sales.
“Based on the success of our PitchHU incubator program, we are happy to launch the GrowHU accelerator program to help support diverse entrepreneurs and their businesses, building on their entrepreneurial talent within the greater Howard University ecosystem while helping the greater HBCU network,” said Howard University President Wayne A. I. Frederick, M.D., MBA. “We are grateful to Frank Bisignano and the Fiserv team for our continued partnership and the company’s investment in the Howard community, and to Ajit Verghese and the humble ventures team for their impactful programming.”
“GrowHU is a brilliant program that will nurture our community’s inventions and ideas,” stated Bruce Jones, vice president of research at Howard University. “It is critical to foster a research climate on campus because we are constantly encouraging curiosity and invention. We are excited to collaborate with Fiserv and humble ventures in launching GrowHU accelerator to further support our faculty, alumni and student founders.”
The continued investment by Fiserv, a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions, is part of the company’s broader commitment to furthering diversity and inclusion, including through the advancement of Black- and minority-owned and small, diverse businesses. As part of the accelerator, Fiserv will provide hands-on support through associate-led training sessions for the cohort, sharing real-world expertise on payments, financial technology, customer engagement and cybersecurity.
“At Fiserv, we know we have a responsibility to further diversity and inclusion in our organization and in our communities,” said Fiserv Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Frank Bisignano, who holds an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Howard University. “Our partnership with Howard University and humble ventures brings programming like the PitchHU incubator and the GrowHU accelerator to aspiring entrepreneurs of color and provides them with the resources they need to scale innovative businesses, acquire capital investments and ultimately give back to the communities where we all live and work.
GrowHU accelerator applications will be accepted through October 7, 2022.
Applications will be reviewed in batches against the GrowHU accelerator requirements. Selected applicants will be invited to join a 10-week, no-cost, virtual cohort, with both asynchronous and synchronous instruction from experts across Howard University, Fiserv and humble ventures.
At the conclusion of the program, GrowHU accelerator will host a public Demo Day on December 9 to bring together channel partners, investors and other interested parties to share cohort participants’ progress and how GrowHU accelerator can invest in their continued success.
“Leveraging our network of experienced mentors, investors and partners is a great privilege,” stated Terry Adams, head of intellectual property and innovation, Office of Research at Howard University. “We are excited to further educate and inspire an entrepreneurial cohort of students, alumni, faculty and staff founders through our first GrowHU accelerator program.”
