Lightship Foundation also offers a 12-week accelerator and pitch program for women and minority founders. Its boot camp dates back to 2011, and Lightship said it’s the first underrepresented founder-focused program in the U.S. Outside of Cincinnati, the program has been offered in Florida, Michigan, Oklahoma and Missouri, and its alumni have gone on to raise more than $100 million in funding, the organization said.
Cincinnati program focused on minority-led businesses expanding
"Lightship Bootcamp" adds six additional sites with funding provided by JobsOhio funding.
Cincy Inno reports that Cincinnati’s Lightship Foundation is expanding one of its signature programs to a half-dozen new sites in Ohio this year to drive the growth of minority-led businesses in the state.
The foundation, a nonprofit and economic development group, will expand its “Lightship Bootcamp” to Dayton, Athens, Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo and Youngstown in 2023. It’s the first time the two-day program, which targets underrepresented entrepreneurs, has offered in-person programming in the Buckeye State outside its traditional Cincinnati confines.
The foundation is partnering with JobsOhio, the state’s private economic development group, to promote and sponsor the camps, which will target businesses within each region of the JobsOhio network. JobsOhio is funding the entire project as part of its inclusion growth strategy.
