• by Fern Siegel , April 14, 2022

R/GA has kicked off a pro-bono initiative — Make/Good for Businesses — that invests in BIPOC entrepreneurs.

The agency will supply expertise in branding, marketing and digital strategy to help accelerate the growth of each company. R/GA's creatives, strategists, technologists, designers and consultants will help the winners scale their businesses over a 12-month period.

Make/Good for Businesses welcomes Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian and underrepresented entrepreneurs in Argentina, Brazil, Germany, the U.K. and U.S. to apply to the program. It targets companies with less than $100K in revenue and fewer than 10 employees, or a nonprofit that's not backed by investors.

Applications can be submitted from April 12-26.

“The Make/Good for Businesses program allows us to offer our expertise for greater impact toward reducing racial inequalities and issues that underrepresented entrepreneurs and communities face,” said Sean Lyons, Global CEO.

The final selection will be announced in June.

Last year, Make/Good for Businesses conducted a pilot program over 18 months and provided creative and operational services to 10 BIPOC businesses in Austin, Berlin, London and New York.

One result: Berlin-based nonprofit Founderland was awarded a $700K+ grant from Google, which allowed it to hire 10 new employees.

An estimated 2%-3% of private equity funds go toward BIPOC-owned and led businesses, according to Axios.