WBENC and Capital One’s Supplier Diversity team are pleased to invite you to apply to Capital One’s innovative business development program for diverse suppliers – CATAPULT.
CATAPULT is an intensive, five-month transformational learning journey designed to enable businesses to innovate and disrupt within their business, and ultimately industry, by developing a new solution to a business challenge while leveraging learnings from the program. The Catapult program has two main components:
- LEARN: Delivered using instructional courses, collaborative thinking workshops, one-on-one meetings with subject matter experts, and dedicated advisors for each participating company, the program will provide you with the building blocks needed to develop a technology-driven and innovative solution to your business challenge.
- PITCH: The Catapult program culminates with a pitch session, to be held virtually, in June 2022. Program participants will deliver a pitch of their solution to a significant business challenge before a panel of judges. The winner will be awarded a sizable cash grant to assist in developing the proposed solution.
WHO SHOULD APPLY?
Program applicants from any industry can apply and must:
- Be certified as a diverse-owned business by WBENC, NMSDC, NaVOBA, NGLCC, Disability:IN, or a member of USPAACC
- Have been operational for three or more years
- Have a minimum annual revenue of $500,000 but less than $20,000,000
- Be in need of solving a complex business problem or creating a new product or service
The program will be limited to 12 businesses that will be selected through a competitive application process.
SCHEDULE AND COMMITMENT
Open for applications at this time, the program’s instructional courses and mentoring sessions are two-day sessions, scheduled monthly between February and June 2022. The sessions will be held virtually over Zoom until it is safe to meet in person.
The business owner must commit to completing the entire 5-month program and personally attending every session. We welcome one additional employee from your company at each session. The additional employee may vary from session to session depending on the subject matter.
TECHNOLOGY OR INNOVATIVE EXPERIENCE
Business owners should be committed to creating a technological or innovative solution. For example, Capital One uses an online banking app for business transactions which is a technological solution for customers. They should also be interested in or have used social media or online channels for marketing.
HOW TO APPLY
Apply for this dynamic, innovative program by visiting: CATAPULT 2021
Entry is FREE and only requires you to:
- Complete the online application
- Create a 60-second video describing your business challenge, proposed technological/innovative solution, and why your company might benefit from this program
Additional program inquiries should be directed to catapult@capitalone.com.
Q&A conference calls for CATAPULT applicants will be held November 3 at 12 PM EST and November 10 at 4:00 p.m. EST. Please email us at catapult@capitalone.com if you’d like to join and we’ll send you an invite.
