{"id":415535,"date":"2026-04-01T21:11:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T21:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/415535\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T21:11:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T21:11:10","slug":"free-entrepreneurship-program-to-offer-business-owners-training-chance-at-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/415535\/","title":{"rendered":"Free entrepreneurship program to offer business owners training, chance at funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

M&T Bank central PA regional president Nora Habig<\/p>\n

Applications opened today for a Harrisburg small business accelerator program that will give away a total of $10,000 to local entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

Officials from Harrisburg University\u2019s Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, M&T Bank and the city launched the fifth annual Small Business Accelerator Program Tuesday morning at a press conference in the MLK City Government Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The free, two-month program will offer sessions on developing a business plan, establishing credit, accessing capital and funding and marketing, among other lessons. Sessions will be held at Harrisburg University on Wednesday evenings between April 29 and June 17.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see this program as a real catalyst for our community\u2014meeting people where they are and helping them go further than they thought possible,\u201d said Nora Habig, central PA regional president of M&T Bank.<\/p>\n

Habig said since the program partners first launched the program in 2022, it has helped more than 120 small businesses across hospitality, beauty, technology, professional services and manufacturing fields.<\/p>\n

The accelerator program will accept 40 participants and culminate in a \u201cShark Tank\u201d-style pitch competition. M&T Bank will award $5,000 for first place; $3,000 for second place; and $2,000 for third place.<\/p>\n

Harrisburg University\u2019s CIE senior development manager Michael Hughes said the program is special because it \u201ccombines access to capital and core coaching\u201d and creates a community of area entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

Harrisburg Mayor Wanda Williams emphasized that partnerships like this are good for the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen our small businesses grow, Harrisburg grows,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s that simple.\u201d<\/p>\n

To apply, entrepreneurs must have been in business for between two and five years, have an annual business revenue between $50,000 and $500,000 and have an owner that lives in Harrisburg or the surrounding area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Applications are due by April 10. Participants will be chosen April 15.<\/p>\n

Applicants must be over 18 years old.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Harrisburg Mayor Wanda Williams<\/p>\n

For more information, visit M&T Bank\u2019s website.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you like what we do, please support our work. <\/b>Become a Friend of TheBurg!<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Visited 2,514 times, 2,159 visit(s) today<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"M&T Bank central PA regional president Nora Habig Applications opened today for a Harrisburg small business accelerator program…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[178],"tags":[33061,79,13457,18,236,186837,186838,19,17,186839],"class_list":["post-415535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entrepreneurship","tag-accelerator","tag-business","tag-cie","tag-eire","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-harrisburg","tag-harrisburg-university","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mt-bank"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116331511415922009","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}