{"id":577700,"date":"2026-04-01T03:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T03:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/577700\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T03:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T03:40:08","slug":"free-entrepreneurship-program-to-offer-business-owners-training-chance-at-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/577700\/","title":{"rendered":"Free entrepreneurship program to offer business owners training, chance at funding"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/theburgnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/bank-nora-accelerator.jpeg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-71277\" class=\"wp-image-71277\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/bank-nora-accelerator-1024x682.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"466\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-71277\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">M&amp;T Bank central PA regional president Nora Habig<\/p>\n<p class=\"lead\">Applications opened today for a Harrisburg small business accelerator program that will give away a total of $10,000 to local entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n<p>Officials from Harrisburg University\u2019s Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, M&amp;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<p>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<p>\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&amp;T Bank.<\/p>\n<p>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<p>The accelerator program will accept 40 participants and culminate in a \u201cShark Tank\u201d-style pitch competition. M&amp;T Bank will award $5,000 for first place; $3,000 for second place; and $2,000 for third place.<\/p>\n<p>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<p>Harrisburg Mayor Wanda Williams emphasized that partnerships like this are good for the city.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen our small businesses grow, Harrisburg grows,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s that simple.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>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<p>Applications are due by April 10. Participants will be chosen April 15.<\/p>\n<p>Applicants must be over 18 years old.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theburgnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/williams-accelerator.jpeg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-71278\" class=\"wp-image-71278\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/williams-accelerator-1024x682.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"466\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-71278\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Harrisburg Mayor Wanda Williams<\/p>\n<p>For more information, visit M&amp;T Bank\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mtb.com\/harrisburgprogram\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">website.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If you like what we do, please support our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/theburgnews.com\/friends-of-theburg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Become a Friend of TheBurg!<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Visited 348 times, 348 visit(s) today<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"M&amp;T Bank central PA regional president Nora Habig Applications opened today for a Harrisburg small business accelerator program&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[17748,64,63,99,250918,198,12444,283413,283414],"class_list":{"0":"post-577700","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-accelerator","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-cie","13":"tag-entrepreneurship","14":"tag-harrisburg","15":"tag-harrisburg-university","16":"tag-mt-bank"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}