27 Buffalo Area Small Businesses Advance in Ignite Buffalo Program

6 years ago

By David Jakubowski, US Publisher Programs Director

We’re delighted to celebrate the 27 companies who have been named finalists in the Ignite Buffalo Program.

Ignite Buffalo is a mentorship, sustainability and capital infusion program led by 43North, in partnership with Facebook and great organizations like M&T Bank, Quickbooks, Amazon Web Services, WordPress.com and WooCommerce to help equip the city’s small businesses to ignite growth and succeed in the digital economy.

Over the past three months, hundreds of Western New York small businesses applied to the program at ignitebuffalo.org for the chance to receive between $25,000 – $100,000 in grants, access to 12 months of personalized mentorship and access to training from the program’s national and local partners.

At the Ignite Buffalo finals on Wednesday, July 11, seven of the 27 finalists will discover that they’ve been chosen to pitch for four $50,000 grants and three $100,000 grants, live on stage that same evening. The remaining 20 finalists will be awarded with $25,000 grants.

Ignite Buffalo Program Finalists

The Ignite Buffalo finals kick-off at 6PM at Facebook Community Boost at the SUNY Erie City Campus. Hosted by Bill Maggio, immediate past Chairman of 43North and Managing Director of Lorraine Capital, the event will feature participation by Ignite Buffalo finals judges, Jamil Crews, Head of Social Media for the City of Buffalo, Eric Feldstein, Head of Business Banking at M&T Bank and Colleen E. Heidinger, Vice President of Programming and Community Strategy.

We congratulate the 27 Ignite Buffalo grant program finalists, and look forward to Wednesday’s excitement as we celebrate Buffalo and Western New York small businesses at Facebook Community Boost.