Allergan Aesthetics, an AbbVie company (NYSE: ABBV), announced that applications are open for the 2024 BOTOX® Cosmetic grant program supporting women entrepreneurs. BOTOX® Cosmetic partnered with IFundWomen to launch the program in 2023, and in the second year, will award a new group of 20 women entrepreneurs each with $25,000 grants to fund and grow their businesses. Additionally, BOTOX® Cosmetic continues to support these businesses through mentorship, coaching, crowdfunding, and community.
The BOTOX® Cosmetic x IFundWomen partnership was born of a desire to extinguish the Confidence Gap, where women feel less self-assured in the workplace and beyond. Women owned businesses represent approximately 40% of all U.S. businesses, employing approximately 12.2 million workers, and generating $2.7 trillion in revenue.1 And yet, there continues to be a funding disparity with less than 3% of venture capital funding going to women-led businesses in 2023 and BIPOC, women-owned businesses continuing to receive less than one percent. 2,3 Additionally, on average, the loan size for women-owned businesses is 50% lower.2 This lack of financial support continues to expand the Confidence Gap instead of close it.
“We are committed to helping close the Confidence Gap through funding, mentorship, and community, and to help women achieve their dreams,” said Carrie Strom, President, Global Allergan Aesthetics and Senior Vice President, AbbVie. “It’s proven that when women are supported and come together, they can achieve incredible things and overcome the Confidence Gap. We are so proud of last year’s recipients and the community they’ve built. We are grateful to learn from them and thrilled to continue this program into a second year with a new cohort of extraordinary women entrepreneurs.”
Beyond funding, the Confidence Gap is compounded as entrepreneurs face an increased risk of burnout. Entrepreneurs tend to be extremely passionate about their work, have limited safety nets, operate in high uncertainty, and may experience greater social isolation.4 This disparity and adversity can weigh down a person’s confidence, increasing the chances of burnout and experiencing the Confidence Gap. Additionally, women have reported higher levels of burnout for years, and that has more than doubled since 2019.5 Research has found that women are more likely to head single-parent families and take on unpaid labor—all things that can exacerbate burnout and widen the Confidence Gap.6 This is why the mentorship and community provided through the BOTOX® Cosmetic x IFundWomen grant program are equally as important as the financial support it offers.
“As one of the 20 recipients of last year’s inaugural BOTOX® Cosmetic grant program, I can attest to the immense impact it’s had not only on my business, but my life, which is why I’m so thrilled for the next group of women who are about to embark on this journey,” said Talia Boone, founder, and CEO of Postal Petals®. “Each of the program’s offerings helped to open new doors, whether it was the funding that supported our financial growth, the mentorship that further built my confidence as a business owner, or the sense of community that came from my fellow women entrepreneurs. I am forever grateful to this program for connecting me to a group of women entrepreneurs who together are helping to bridge the Confidence Gap. I look forward to getting to know this year’s grant recipients and building on BOTOX® Cosmetic’s mission to elevate women leaders of tomorrow, today.”
Once again, a panel of healthcare provider-entrepreneurs will help to select the final grant recipients. These successful entrepreneurs, which will be announced in the coming weeks, will be able to share valuable knowledge and perspective around starting, growing, and maintaining a small business, making them a valuable resource to our grant recipients, and putting them in a unique position while evaluating applications.
In addition to receiving a $25,000 grant for her business, each entrepreneur will complete an immersive ten-week Crowdfunding Coaching Accelerator program, designed to instill not only education, but a sense of community within the group of women entrepreneurs. This program will provide mentoring from various experts on a range of business-focused topics and coaching to launch their individual crowdfunding campaigns. Recipients will also be provided with access to a range of educational and networking opportunities.
