EforAll opens applications for 2022 NWA accelerator; hires executive director

Massachusetts-based nonprofit Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll), whose mission is to accelerate economic and social impact through inclusive entrepreneurship, is accepting applications for its first business accelerator programs in Northwest Arkansas.

The accelerator is a free, one-year program offered twice a year in EforAll communities. Funding from Bentonville-based Walton Family Foundation supports the Northwest Arkansas accelerator, which launched in March this year as the state’s first EforAll community.

Programs are available in both English and Spanish and will begin the week of Jan. 10, 2022. Classes are held on Tuesdays from 5:30-8:30 p.m. and Thursdays from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Classes will be a mix of online and in-person.

The winter 2022 application deadline is Thursday, Oct. 28. EforAll will announce finalists on Nov. 18. There’s more information about the program and the application process at this link.

EforAll hired Rodrigo Salas as executive director of the Northwest Arkansas accelerator program. Originally from Mexico and now a Bentonville-based startup founder, Salas has 20 years of experience in various marketing, strategic and directorial roles.

He took his company, Kualli Foods, from a concept to a successful business with distribution in over 400 grocery stores nationwide. His family-run business, Molli Sauces, was founded in 2013 as a subsidiary of Kualli Foods.

Ana Ortiz is the program manager for the Spanish-speaking accelerator program in NWA, EparaTodos. Ortiz is a first-generation college graduate with over ten years of retail sales, teaching, and small business consulting experience and owns her own photography business.