Loyola accepts 11 ventures for Baltipreneurs Accelerator
樱花动漫鈥檚 Simon Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship accepted 11 new ventures for the center鈥檚 2024-25 Baltipreneurs Accelerator, a four-month part-time program supporting startup businesses and social ventures with training, technical assistance, mentorship, networking, and access to capital.
This year鈥檚 Baltipreneurs harness artificial intelligence and machine learning for health care, source and roast coffee beans, lead in women鈥檚 fashion, cosmetics, and services, provide educational tools for underserved students, and explore for minerals while minimizing the ecological impact. Largely women entrepreneurs this year, they include Loyola students and alumni as well as entrepreneurs from other universities and the community.
鈥淲e are pleased that the national growth in microbusinesses owned by founders of color and the 70% increase in the number of Black-women-owned businesses since the pandemic were reflected in our Baltipreneurs applicant pool,鈥� said Wendy Bolger, founding director of the Simon Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. 鈥淏altipreneurs鈥� success will be the city鈥檚 success, as microbusinesses create seven jobs for every one entrepreneur, on average, and drive unemployment down.鈥�
The 2025-25 Baltipreneurs are:
- , eco-friendly precision mineral exploration
- , coastal chic and city-inspired fashion
- and , artificial intelligence and machine learning for health care
- , the future of menstrual cups
- , a social enterprise focusing on the wellness of moms
- , education for the digital age
- , empowering women through makeup
- , sourcing and roasting coffee beans
- , culturally representative educational coloring books
- and QSS Baltimore Inc., a noncollegiate sisterhood, investment club and community-based organization empowering women
- , fashion rooted in heritage
The Baltipreneurs Accelerator will provide $47,000 in total funding to the participants. They will attend 10 sessions from December 2024 through March 2025, culminating in a Demo Day showcase at Loyola on March 18. Throughout the program, mentors, instructors, coaches, and consultants will provide guidance customized for each participant, and participants will collaborate and learn from each other.
樱花动漫鈥檚 in Baltimore delivers an internationally recognized Jesuit business education. Recognized for its scholarship, ethical leadership, and tradition of excellence, the Sellinger School delivers a wide range of sought-after fields of study including nine undergraduate majors and 12 undergraduate minors as well as full-time, part-time, and fully online MBA and Master of Accounting programs.