In December 2023, CCBEF was awarded $60,000 from the Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation for its three-year Entrepreneurs Forever peer-support and education program. The Entrepreneurs Forever program is designed to strengthen cohorts of small businesses past the start-up stage.
The three-year program will teach a cohort of 12 small business owners from Cape Cod how to respond to challenges and sustainably grow their businesses. Using Entrepreneurs Forever’s peer learning program, a facilitator will guide Cape Cod businesses through monthly meetings. These meetings are designed to encourage the entrepreneurs to problem-solve challenges together and in turn build the skills needed to grow their business.
The funding partnership formed with Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation and program partnership with Entrepreneurs Forever increase CCBEF’s operating budget and serve CCEBF’s mission of economic growth without adding an overwhelming workload to existing CCBEF and Cape Cod Chamber staff.
With enough small business interest, the peer group program is scalable by forming a second or more cohorts through the existing process.