Apply for 2025 Cohort
The 2024 ACTIVE application cycle is closed. If you would like to be notified when applications open for 2025, click the button below. We anticipate accepting applications beginning in fall 2024 for an early 2025 start date.
ABOUT ACTIVE
Supporting Healthcare Entrepreneurs
The Arkansas Collaborative for Technological and Innovative Venture Equality (ACTIVE) provides a year of mentorship, educational resources, training, and networking opportunities. If you are a motivated, diverse Arkansan who owns an early-stage healthcare or health technology business, ACTIVE can help you turn your innovative idea into a capital-ready startup.
The Core Experiences of ACTIVE
Mentorship
Personalized guidance from successful entrepreneurs and industry experts.
Networking Opportunities
Access to a wide network of healthcare professionals, investors, and peer entrepreneurs.
Business
Skills
Tools and training to develop and scale your healthcare business.
Capital
Readiness
Assistance preparing for and securing funding and investment.
Entrepreneurship Bootcamps
Intensive training sessions on key aspects of starting and running a business.
Innovative Health Tech Focus
Specialized expertise in health technology: access to contacts and know-how.
Legal and Regulatory Guidance
Expert advice on navigating the legal and regulatory landscape of healthcare technology.
Market Access and Expansion
Strategies to enter and thrive in the competitive healthcare market.
ELIGIBILITY
WHO CAN APPLY?
- Early-Stage Healthcare and Health Technology Companies: Businesses that are in the initial stages of development and focus on healthcare or health technology are eligible. We are looking for innovative solutions that can transform healthcare in Arkansas and beyond.
- Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individuals (SEDIs): Our program is specifically designed to support entrepreneurs who have faced social and economic barriers. This is a diverse group that includes – but is not limited to – racial or ethnic minorities, women, veterans, and people with disabilities. Please see our FAQ section for more information.
- Arkansas Residents: To ensure direct impact on our local communities, applicants must be current residents of the state of Arkansas.
THE FUTURE OF HEALTH
Meet the ACTIVE 2024 Cohort
ACTIVE’s entrepreneurs come from all walks of life but share a common goal: Improving the health of all Arkansans and contributing to a vibrant local healthcare and health tech industry. Their innovative approaches tackle some of modernity’s biggest healthcare challenges with creativity, unique expertise, and the kind of daring spirit necessary to change the future of health.
Our Partners
FAQs
Eligibility
Early-stage healthcare or health technology companies that are owned by “Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individuals” (SEDI) who reside in the state of Arkansas may apply. For further details about each of these qualifiers, please see the related questions.
According to federal definitions, “socially disadvantaged individuals are those who have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias within American society because of their identities as members of groups and without regard to their individual qualities. The social disadvantage must stem from circumstances beyond their control.
“Economically disadvantaged individuals are socially disadvantaged individuals whose ability to compete in the free enterprise system has been impaired due to diminished capital and credit opportunities as compared to others in the same or similar line of business who are not socially disadvantaged.”
These are broad definitions and can include racial or ethnic minorities, women, veterans, long-term residents of rural areas and people with disabilities or from disadvantaged or persecuted communities or groups, etc. If you have questions about whether you qualify, please contact us at active@uams.edu.
These are broadly defined categories. Healthcare companies can include home health; free– or minority–focused clinics; digital care; holistic health; health education or training; nutrition or dietetics services; patient outreach; public health; environmental health; etc. Health technology can include augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, robotics, healthcare tracking apps, information technology systems, software as a service, digital health/telemedicine, medical imaging, gamification, wearable devices, smart devices, and many other emerging ideas.
If you have questions about whether your company qualifies, please contact us at active@uams.edu.
Yes. This program is only open to Arkansas residents.
That is fine. You may have participated in other entrepreneurial trainings or accelator programs before.
This program is intended for early-stage businesses. You do not need to have a successfully established business to apply. Most businesses that apply will be pre-revenue and some will be at the idea stage.
You may be eligible to apply even if you only have an idea and a business plan.
All applicants are evaluated by the ACTIVE Board, which will determine which applicants will move forward with the program. The board will also help identify what resources are needed for your specific business to be successful.
We are mainly interested in supporting new, early-stage businesses that need help becoming capital ready. If you have questions about your eligibility related to this, please contact us via active@uams.edu.
Application Process
We are not currently accepting applications. Fill this form to receive a notification when the next application cycle opens.
Yes. If the board does not select your business the first time you apply, we will provide feedback and encourage you to apply the next time applications are open.
Program Structure and Requirements
Eligible individuals/businesses can apply on our website during the open application period, which is typically held annually in winter and early spring.
Once the application is submitted, it will be reviewed by our team and our board, which will select the participants.
If you are accepted, our program manager will guide you through enrollment and orientation. They will gather information to assess your needs, with the goal of getting you to capital readiness.
Our program manager will determine which of our community partners can best meet your needs and set you up with these partners for training opportunities, meetings, and other forms of assistance.
The program manager will check in with you monthly to ensure your needs are met. Also, you will meet quarterly with the board to evaluate your needs and reassess as needed.
By the end of the program, you and your company should be ready to raise capital.
We will offer a broad range of services, training opportunities, and networking with the assistance of our community partners. These services and opportunities can include entrepreneurship bootcamps, assistance with setting up your business, guidance on applying for funding through loans or grants, networking and venture capital matchmaking events, one-on-one mentorship, legal guidance, and more.
You will not receive any payments or funding directly from ACTIVE. However, the goal of the program is to connect you with opportunities to seek investment and help you become “capital ready.” We will help you raise funds and apply for loans or grants so that you can raise capital by the end of the program.
While you will not directly receive funding from this program, funding will be dedicated to each applicant to pay for individualized services and training opportunities to help them become capital ready. The services will be determined by the ACTIVE Board.
The funding for this program covers the fees for the services you will receive up to $4,500. If it is determined that you need additional services beyond what the funds cover, you will be informed of the costs so that you can decide whether to pay for those additional services.
Our goal is your success, and we try to ensure that the services you need match up with the budgeted amount so that you don’t have any out-of-pocket costs.
Each cohort will participate in activities for about one year, and then graduate to alumni status. However, engagement is highly dependent on the needs of each individual and how quickly those needs are met.
The pace of the program will be highly individual and will depend on your needs. However, you will be expected to check in with the program manager monthly to ensure that your needs are being met and that you are actively participating in the program.
Yes. Please only apply if you intend to fully participate in the program. We are interested in seeing you succeed, and your participation and cooperation are large components of what will determine your success.
Some training and meetings can be held virtually. However, other training sessions will be held in-person, mostly in Central Arkansas. If travel is an issue for you, we will work to accommodate your needs.
General
This program is being funded by a grant from the Minority Business Development Agency’s Capital Readiness Program, with matching funds provided by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).
For further questions, please email active@uams.edu.
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