Small Business News
Intuit Announces IDEAS Pilot Program for Small Businesses
Intuit, which owns several small business tools from QuickBooks to Mailchimp, is launching a new pilot program that will support small businesses — starting with minority-owned businesses in the greater Los Angeles area.
About the program:
This week, Intuit announced the launch of its Intuit IDEAS program — with IDEAS standing for Invest, Develop, Empower, Accelerate, and Scale. For this initial pilot program, the company is partnering with the Los Angeles Urban League (LAUL). Previously, LAUL has distributed Intuit QuickBooks subscriptions to entrepreneurs it’s worked with. Now, the pair plan to build on that by offering direct support to businesses via this initiative.
According to Intuit, the pilot program will support 25 to 30 Black and Latino-owned small businesses in Los Angeles. Throughout the year-long program, participating businesses will receive assistance with compliance, bookkeeping, tax prep, and email marketing, with the goal of improving their efficiency, earnings, and “capital readiness” into the future. Additionally, upon completion, these businesses will be presented with a $10,000 grant.
What they’re saying:
Announcing the IDEAS program and speaking to the intent behind it, Intuit Expert Network VP David Graham said, “Small businesses are critical to building healthy, local communities. That’s why it is so important to ensure they have the tools and expertise to grow and hire. At Intuit we believe that our AI-driven platform combined with our human expert network will make a significant impact on program participants, the community, and beyond.” Graham continued, “We are honored to be a part of this journey, understanding that Intuit tools will continue powering prosperity for local entrepreneurs, and look forward to providing expertise that will set participating businesses on a path to success.“
Also commenting on the program, LAUL president and CEO Michael Lawson stated, “At the Los Angeles Urban League, we actively seek partners who possess a deep understanding of the challenges confronting Black and Brown entrepreneurs and small business owners. That is why the development of the IDEAS program and our collaboration with Intuit is so meaningful… We are thrilled about this new program which is rooted in a deep commitment to support local, small Black and minority-owned businesses across Los Angeles in partnership with Intuit.”
My thoughts:
Recent years have brought several initiatives in a similar vein to Intuit’s new IDEAS program — and that’s absolutely a good thing. While Intuit has been criticized for various things in the past (namely regarding their TurboTax platform), there’s no question that their tools have been beneficial to small businesses on the whole. With that in mind, this pilot program makes a lot of sense and it’s great to see them partnering with a group such as LAUL to do it. Hopefully, this pilot program will lead to a bigger and even better IDEAS program in the years ahead.
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