Empowering Female Small Business Owners to Support Their Entrepreneurial Dreams

DOVE Chocolate to grant three women $10,000 to support new ideas and established small business concepts

DOVE Chocolate believes that empowering women helps communities thrive. That’s why we’ve been partnering with CARE since 2015, helping women in cocoa-growing communities secure a future for their families.

Unwrapping Financial Opportunity for Women in the U.S.

Inspired by our work with CARE and the success we’ve seen in West Africa, we developed a platform for enterprising women in the United States that fosters community and celebration related to financial empowerment and equity: #DOVEInstaGrants.

#DOVEInstaGrants embodies our mission to help support and elevate women in business. The goal of #DOVEInstaGrants is to offer women a sense of community and support with a platform to express their smart business ideas — whether they’re just getting started or are more established.

Funding Women Who Mean Business

The #DOVEInstaGrants program calls on all women who mean business to pitch new ideas and established small business concepts for a chance to win one of three $10,000 grants to further fuel their entrepreneurial dreams. Female business entrepreneurs will be considered by sharing a :30 second business “pitch” video in-feed on Instagram with #DOVEInstaGrants #Contest @DoveChocolate in the caption, or by visiting InstaGrants.DoveChocolate.com from now through Friday, November 19, 2021.

To help raise awareness for the program, we partnered with female money experts Tori Dunlap (@Herfirst100k) and Carmen Perez (@makerealcents), who help women build financial equity and confidence through their social channels. In addition to encouraging their followers to enter, Tori and Carmen will give their signature financial advice to their communities with a little help from our DOVE Chocolate PROMISES messages.

Making Chocolate Better, One Piece at a Time

In partnership with CARE, DOVE® Chocolate has been working to empower women in Cote d’Ivoire, West Africa, by supporting the implementation and evolution of Village Savings & Loan Association (VSLA) programs. The VSLAs have since become essential in helping women achieve financial independence by empowering them to build micro businesses. In turn, the cocoa-growing communities have benefitted, as the resources generated are often re-invested in these communities by the women themselves.

CARE has more than 25 years of experience operating Village Savings & Loan Associations in developing countries, and this methodology is the foundation of our partnership. Together we make loans available to participating women to develop small businesses and provide a safe place for women to save and manage their money. Through their small businesses, women earn income that they can direct to other expenditures such as healthcare and schooling, which helps them build social capital within their families and broader communities.

While our vision in Cote d’Ivoire is to increase women’s access to economic and social opportunities, provide resources to improve incomes and enable women to make household financial decisions, our work doesn’t stop there. We recognize there are opportunities right here in the U.S. where we can make an impact.

I’m thrilled to be joining these women on the judging panel to select our three finalists to be unveiled mid-December. We are excited to inspire women to join financial conversations, build financial confidence and ignite creativity, while also paving the way for future entrepreneurs.

Learn more about how Mars is helping women reach their full potential.