PepsiCo Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) has expanded its Greenhouse Accelerator Program with a new iteration focused exclusively on Hispanic-owned businesses.
The Greenhouse Accelerator Program: Juntos Crecemos (Together We Grow) Edition will support emerging Hispanic-owned food and beverage businesses through collaboration and innovation. The Purchase-based PepsiCo will select 10 high-potential brands, products and/or foodservice concepts from a pool of applicants to join the Greenhouse Accelerator program in June. The 10 chosen applicants will receive $20,000 in grant funding and participate in a six-month business program designed to accelerate their growth through personalized mentorship.
PepsiCo stated its mentors will collaborate with the selected applicants on multiple business fronts, including brand development, scaling technology, business model development, product optimization and go-to-market strategy. The companies will execute an initiative to demonstrate collaboration and tangible results, and in August they will share their initiative progress and present updates in a virtual event to the evaluation committee. In November, the highest potential business will be awarded by an expert selection committee an additional $100,000 to continue its expansion and an opportunity to continue working with PepsiCo and Juntos Crecemos to further their growth.
“In line with PepsiCo’s Racial Equality Journey goals to support and uplift diverse suppliers, this year we chose to focus on Hispanic-owned entrepreneurs,” said Esperanza Teasdale, vice president and general manager of the Hispanic Business Unit at PepsiCo Beverages North America. “We are extremely excited and proud to offer diverse companies an opportunity to grow their businesses with our support, especially emerging food and beverage brands. Through our mentorship program and grants we hope to see these businesses grow and further expand within the food and beverage industry.”
PepsiCo launched its Greenhouse Accelerator program in Europe in 2017 and expanded to North America in 2018. This is the eighth edition of the program.
