Belove Creamery & Cakes, Bosco Desserts, Master Paletas, and Smokehouse Miami receive grants as part of the Fiserv Back2Business program

MIAMI, FL., December 14, 2023 – As part of their mutual commitment to furthering the success of small diverse businesses, Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE: FI), a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions, was joined by Santander US to present four South Florida-based small businesses with $2,500 Back2Business grants at the Annual ICIC (Initiative for a Competitive Inner City) Conference in Miami.

Grant recipients were selected from a recent cohort of entrepreneurs graduating from the Santander US Cultivate Small Business Program, a 12-week program that helps early-stage entrepreneurs build and sustain businesses in the food industry, with a focus on woman-, immigrant-, and BIPOC-owned businesses. 

The grants are part of the Fiserv Back2Business program, a $50 million commitment to support small, diverse businesses through grants, coaching, networking opportunities and access to leading technology solutions such as the Clover point-of-sale and business management platform.

“Through our signature Cultivate Small Business program, Santander US helps driven entrepreneurs take their business to the next level by providing access to invaluable training, networking, resources, and mentorship,” said Christina DeLay, Head of Small Business & Corporate Social Responsibility at Santander US. “We’re proud to support these small businesses and their owners as they continue to thrive and implement what they’ve learned throughout the program.”

The following small business owners received $2,500 Back2Business grants Fiserv:

• Luisa Castillo Mantilla of Belove Creamery & Cakes, which offers cakes and desserts for all occasions, including ice cream, brownies, cookies, crepes and waffles.
• Haydee Gomez of Bosco Desserts, a family-owned gelato shop specializing in making handmade gelato in small batches to produce customizable products and one-of-a-kind flavors.
• Jan Yi (Julia) Lao of Master Paletas, known for artisanal gourmet ice cream bars that are handmade from selected fruits and premium ingredients.
• Sandra Herdocia and Monica Vaca of Smokehouse Miami, a female-owned catering service, which specializes in high-quality southern flair BBQ and other comfort foods.

“We’re proud to present these grants to deserving entrepreneurs who are growing businesses that will help support inner city communities for years to come,” said Neil Wilcox, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Fiserv. “Providing funding and resources to help small, diverse businesses thrive is a primary tenet of our Back2Business program, and it's wonderful to see the impact this program is making in communities across the country.”

Since 2020, Back2Business has awarded more than 1,800 grants to minority-, women-, veteran-, LGBTQ+- and ethnically diverse-owned businesses in the United States and United Kingdom.

About Fiserv

Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE: FI), a Fortune 500™ company, aspires to move money and information in a way that moves the world. As a global leader in payments and financial technology, the company helps clients achieve best-in-class results through a commitment to innovation and excellence in areas including account processing and digital banking solutions; card issuer processing and network services; payments; e-commerce; merchant acquiring and processing; and the Clover® cloud-based point-of-sale and business management platform. Fiserv is a member of the S&P 500® Index and one of Fortune® World’s Most Admired Companies™. Visit fiserv.com and follow on social media for more information and the latest company news.

About Santander US

Santander Holdings USA, Inc. (SHUSA) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Madrid-based Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: SAN) (Santander), a global banking group with 166 million customers in the U.S., Europe and Latin America. As the intermediate holding company for Santander’s U.S. businesses, SHUSA is the parent company of financial companies with approximately 13,700 employees, 4.5 million customers, and $168 billion in assets, as of December 2022. These include Santander Bank, N.A., Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc., Banco Santander International, Santander Securities LLC, Santander US Capital Markets LLC and several other subsidiaries. Santander US is recognized as a top 10 auto lender, a top 10 multifamily lender, and a top 10 commercial real estate lender, and has a growing wealth management business. For more information about Santander US, please visit www.santanderus.com.

About the Santander US Cultivate Small Business Program

The Santander US Cultivate Small Business program helps early-stage entrepreneurs build and sustain businesses in the food industry, with a focus on woman-, immigrant-, and BIPOC-owned businesses in low-to-moderate income neighborhoods. The program is completely free for eligible entrepreneurs and provides a food-focused curriculum, mentorship, and capital grants. In December 2023, Santander US graduated its eighth cohort of the initiative marking the 500^th entrepreneur served by the program and $1.8M in capital granted provided to small businesses.