EforAll

EforAll (Entrepreneurship for All) is a non-profit accelerator founded by tech entrepreneur and philanthropist Gujuraj “Desh” Deshpande and his wife Jaishree. It provides poor immigrants and racial minorities with free comprehensive training, mentorship, and resources to launch their own businesses. From its 11 locations primarily in the U.S. northeast, it graduated 350 new business owners in 2022, when its program moved to mostly virtual training during the pandemic. 

Currently, EforAll faces a significant dilemma: the board has set an ambitious target to grow the organization 150-fold over the next eight years. This includes launching 6,000 new businesses per year in 50 U.S. cities for a total of 50,000 startups by 2030, and increasing capital five-fold to $50 million. New CEO Meralis Hood must determine the feasibility of these expectations and strategize the scaling process while considering potential impacts on the accelerator's foundational model. She confronts questions regarding the scalability of the virtual training model, effective operational practices for national expansion, fundraising, mentor recruitment, staff roles, and overall sustainability of such rapid growth.