Coinciding with Xero Day 2023 – the day of Xero’s founding 17 years ago – Xero yesterday (6 July) announced a new global small business fund with more than R8-million in funding, to support the future aspirations of small businesses globally.
The Xero Beautiful Business Fund will officially launch with a call for entries at Xerocon Sydney, taking place in Sydney on 23-24 August 2023.
Designed to celebrate small businesses, empower success, and accelerate their growth, the Xero Beautiful Business Fund will be open to Xero small business customers in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, the US, Canada and the UK.
Customers in each country will be eligible to apply for the following funding categories that best suit their needs:
* Innovating for sustainability: For small businesses who want to take the next step on their sustainability journey. It could be to move to sustainable packaging, implement energy-efficient equipment or carbon-neutral transport.
* Trailblazing with technology: For small businesses seeking to take the next step to supercharge their business by digitalising parts of their operations or integrating new emerging technologies.
* Strengthening community connection: For small businesses or non-profits striving towards community connection. It could be to contribute to philanthropy, social good, or make an impact on the community in a meaningful way.
* Upskilling for the future: For small businesses seeking to support upskilling for themselves or their employees so they can access training and development to further grow.
For each category, there will be seven regional winners identified by a regional judging panel. The pool of regional winners in each category will then be evaluated by a global judging panel and the winner of each category will receive an additional global prize.
Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, Xero CEO, says: “Xero Day – the anniversary of when it all started for Xero – is our opportunity to connect and celebrate our small business customers all around the world. This year, we are pleased to be launching the Xero Beautiful Business Fund to allocate funds to back small businesses in their future aspirations and help them achieve whatever success means to them.
“We believe small businesses run the world and as champions of small business, Xero is providing an opportunity for customers to apply for funding to take their next step. Whether that be to support a passion to become a more sustainable business, upskill employees, philanthropic work in the community, or integrate the latest AI into their business, the fund is here to help small businesses meet their dreams.”
The application, inclusive of a written form and a short video submission, will be available beginning on 23 August 2023 with the application period closing on 6 October 2023.