Google Announces A One-Million-Dollar Grant To Help Women SMEs

Google’s philanthropy arm, Google.org, announced on Tuesday that it will donate $1 million to programs that help women entrepreneurs build their firms, as part of a series of new initiatives focused at boosting women-owned businesses.

“Research shows that 58% of small and medium-sized business (SMB) entrepreneurs in Africa are women. Despite this, women-run businesses show, on average, 34 percent lower profits than those run by their male counterparts. They are also less likely to receive funding and investment. ” Mojolaoluwa Makinde, Google’s Head of Brand and Reputation in Africa.

In addition to the funding announcement, Google has launched #LookMeUp, a movement to highlight and tell the experiences of female entrepreneurs. 

“Google is also providing free tools to support women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and has launched an intensive program to drive the discovery of women-owned businesses through Google Business Profiles.” Makinde

Google Business Profile, an app-based skills-building platform that allows business owners to access a series of free, custom-designed, bite-sized lessons on the go, and Primer, an app-based skills-building platform that allows business owners to access a series of free, custom-designed, bite-sized lessons on the go.

Google has dedicated the March cohort of the Hustle Academy to women-owned SMBs in order to assist them to enhance their talents. The Hustle Academy, which debuted last month, is a free, week-long boot camp aimed at helping small businesses gain the expertise they need to grow.