Google Announces $1M Grant To Support Women

Google through its philanthropic arm, Google.org, is committing $1 million in charitable funding to support programs helping women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.

The initiative is part of a series of new initiatives by the company aimed at supporting women-owned businesses.

“Research shows that 58 per cent of small and medium-sized business (SMB) entrepreneurs in Africa are women. Despite this, women-run businesses show, on average, 34 per cent lower profits than those run by their male counterparts. They are also less likely to receive funding and investment. This is why we are announcing a series of initiatives today, aimed at providing the support women need to grow their businesses,” Mojolaoluwa Aderemi Makinde, Head Brand and Reputation, Africa – Google said.

Additionally, Google has also announced #LookMeUp, a campaign to showcase women entrepreneurs and tell their stories.

“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 says.

These tools include Google Business Profile, which helps businesses create a free webpage to make them easier to find online, and Primer, an app-based skills-building platform, which allows business owners to access a series of free, custom-designed, bite-sized lessons on the go.

To help women business owners to develop their skills, Google has also dedicated the March cohort of the Hustle Academy to women-owned SMBs. The Hustle Academy, launched last month, is a free, week-long bootcamp designed to help SMBs build the expertise they need to expand their businesses.