The Small Business Administration announced 76 awards for accelerators supporting inclusive entrepreneurship, including two from Iowa. The New Bohemian Innovation Collaborative (NewBoCo) and Rural Business Innovators Iowa SBDC will receive $50,000 each as winners of the 2021 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition, which recognized efforts that “targeted assistance to STEM/R&D entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups, including women, people of color, rural, and veteran entrepreneurs.” Rural Business Innovators, a program administered by the Iowa SBDC, built an accelerator customized to the needs of innovators in rural Iowa. NewBoCo’s solution centers on empowering the entrepreneurship of eastern Iowa’s nurse and health care workforce first revealed when they stepped up at the start of the pandemic to make PPE and other critical medical supplies. View the full list of awardees
