BOSTON, August 7, 2023 /CSRwire/ - The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC), with support from Yum! Brands, invites small business owners from across Canada to apply for the 2023 Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) program – a tuition-free, 40-hour “mini-MBA” program that combines executive education, webinars, and coaching delivered by top-ranking university professors and business experts.

The ICCC-Pizza Hut Equal Slice Program is designed to help BIPOC-, disability-, immigrant-, and woman-owned small businesses across Canada develop strategies that build their capacity for sustainable growth and present opportunities to connect with capital sources to create local jobs.

“We’re proud to offer this transformative program which has helped so many small business owners grow revenue more quickly, create well-paying jobs, and access critical capital,” said ICIC CEO Steve Grossman. “We are pleased to have awarded $20,000 grants to exceptional members of the Canadian cohorts.”

Over the past two years, ICCC has collaborated with Yum! Brands to provide two cohorts of the ICCC-Pizza Hut Equal Slice Program and a pilot cohort of the ICCC-KFC Recipe for Success Mini-MBA Program. These programs have assisted 98 small businesses with accessing $170,000 in capital and achieving 112% revenue growth. 76% of these businesses identified as BIPOC-owned, and 67% were woman-owned businesses. Five participants from each cohort were awarded with grants ranging from $20,000 to $30,000 CAD.

“The ICCC program allowed me to review business fundamentals again from the specific lens of my own business,” said 2022 ICCC-Pizza Hut Equal Slice grant winner and founder of Chandler Honey, Tique Chandler. “It's one thing to learn about marketing basics in school, and entirely another to learn about marketing basics when I can think back to my own specific business and different strategies I could employ.”

The ICCC-Pizza Hut Equal Slice Program will host two Canadian cohorts in 2023. The first cohort will be held in person in Toronto, Ontario, beginning on Thursday, September 14. The second cohort will be held virtually starting Tuesday, October 17 and Thursday, October 19. Interested business owners can apply by Friday, September 1, for the Toronto Cohort and Friday, September 29, for the national virtual cohort.

Canadians can nominate small business owners from minority backgrounds to be considered for the program. Visit ICIC’s website for additional detail about the ICCC program, including eligibility criteria and applications.

For more information and to connect with an ICIC subject matter expert, please contact Sarah Ginand at sginand@icic.org or (617) 238-3026 or Jasmine Martin at jmartin@icic.org or (617) 238-3010.

About Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) 

Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) was founded by renowned Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter in 1994 as a research and strategy organization that today is widely recognized as the preeminent authority on the economies of underserved communities. ICIC drives inclusive economic prosperity in under-resourced communities through innovative research and programs to create jobs, income, and wealth for local residents.

Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) is a tuition-free executive leadership training program designed by ICIC to help business owners in under-resourced communities build capacity for sustainable growth in revenue, profitability, and employment. ICCC is uniquely designed to provide three critical elements for sustainable growth: capacity-building education, one-on-one coaching, and connections to capital and capital providers.

Learn more at www.icic.org/iccc or @icicorg.

About Pizza Hut Canada 

Pizza Hut is proud to be one of Canada's largest pizza restaurant chains with over 500 locations locally. Globally Pizza Hut is one of the world's largest pizza restaurant companies with more than 18,000 restaurants in over 100 countries. No matter where you find a Pizza Hut, they are making sure each meal customers enjoy is safe, delicious, and unmistakably Pizza Hut.

Pizza Hut, Inc. is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM). Hungry for more information?

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The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC)

The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC)

The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) was founded by reknown Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter in 1994 as a research and strategy organization that today is widely recognized as the preeminent authority on urban economic growth. ICIC drives inclusive economic prosperity in under-resourced communities through innovative research and programs to create jobs, income, and wealth for local residents. To learn more about ICIC, visit icic.org.

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