Eligibility

To determine if the online certificate program in the Bank of America Institute for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Cornell meets your needs, please read through the following guidelines:

Guidelines for Participants

The program targets women who are starting, running, or expanding a business. Participants should be past the stage of early brainstorming, should have taken some initial steps towards focusing on a particular context and should have assembled at least modest levels of human and capital resources. There is not a strict guideline regarding years of operation, but a rough guideline is 0-5 years. For companies operating with more years of experience, the curriculum may still be useful if the business is in the process of reinvigoration or is launching an entrepreneurial initiative.

Participants will benefit the most from the curriculum if they are still seeking or have received early stage financial resources but have not already done multiple rounds of venture funding. The participants' businesses should have the potential to create jobs and may already have employees beyond the founder. The curriculum may be less appropriate for sole proprietors who have no intent to grow the business or employ others. Goals for the business can include modest to aggressive growth. It is not required that there be a rapid trajectory that is characteristic of high-tech/high-growth companies.

Entrepreneurs from all industries are eligible. Social innovators are welcome, but they ideally are seeking to build a financially sustainable business. Although not-for-profit entrepreneurs can benefit from the curriculum, the legal and financial courses are focused on for-profit businesses.

We welcome participants from diverse industries, nationalities, and geographies, and we encourage applicants of all ages, gender identities, races, ethnicities, cultures, sexual orientation, or other dimensions of diversity. Participants do need to be proficient in English to benefit from the English-language version of the course. As of July 2021, we are also offering a Spanish-language version of the course for those who would feel more comfortable completing the program in Spanish

While this program was designed with women entrepreneurs in mind, the Institute understands that there may be those in the community who work with or provide services to women entrepreneurs who may find value in the coursework. We applaud your investment in understanding more about entrepreneurship from a woman’s perspective and encourage you to participate in the program as available space allows.