Thirteen local small businesses have been awarded $5,000 Comcast Rise grants, an influx of $65,000 to the economy that comes with updated technology, business coaching and a bespoke media strategy, the company said Aug. 19.
Awardees aren’t in the traditional office mold. They include the Hong Kong Restaurant in Harvard Square and Hot Chix in Inman Square – seller of the best fried chicken in Boston, according to Boston Magazine – and beverage businesses Kikori, which sells Japanese rice whiskey, and Urban Pharm, a maker of shrub “drinking vinegars” for cooking or cocktail mixing.
Urban Pharm is one of several woman-owned businesses on the list of awardees, along with the Curio Spice Co. and organizing service Grace at Your Place. Two businesses aim to help working women: Numbers in Boxes provides bookkeeping support for women-owned businesses, while Woom serves as an incubator for working moms (and is the publisher of the children’s book “Mommy Goes to Work”).
Wellness businesses also got grants, including the Embody Studio, which offers yoga and meditation classes in East Cambridge, and ScalpHelp, a product for textured hair. (“This brand isn’t just about solving the itch and discomfort of protective hairstyles – it’s about celebrating resilience, beauty and self-care,” ScalpHelp founder Shameeka Brown writes on the business’s website.)
The grant arrives on the heels of punishing tariffs for Curio, a shop with 30 employees, a Cambridge storefront and stand at the Boston Public Market. “As a small manufacturer – one of only a handful in North America that blends, packs and ships its own spices – we don’t have the financial cushion or volume leverage that larger corporations enjoy,” chief executive Claire Cheney said in May. “We can’t easily absorb price spikes, nor can we pass along substantial increases to our customers without harming the relationships we’ve built with independent food makers, chefs, and restaurants who rely on our ingredients. Our customers are makers themselves – people who care deeply about quality and sourcing, but who are also watching their margins shrink.”
Comcast is a Philadelphia-founded media giant that expanded from cable into Internet, becoming the world’s fourth-largest telecommunications company and buying the content creators NBC Universal and DreamWorks Animation.
Boston was selected as one of five metro areas eligible for Rise grants this year, along with Grand Rapids, Michigan; Nashville, Tennessee; Seattle; and South Valley, Utah, according to the company. The program, in its fifth year, selected a total of 100 Boston-area businesses to support, with funds to be distributed in September.
The full list of grant recipients is Curio Spice Co.; Spiridoula Politis of Embody Studios; Theohari Lambrinos of Grace at Your Place; the Hong Kong Restaurant; Hot Chix Boston; Kikori; Living Harmony; Numbers in Boxes; ScalpHelp; the Sumiao Xiang Restaurant; Velasquez Tax & Business Service; Urban Pharm; and Woom, also known as Mommy Goes to Work.
The program, meant to support entrepreneurial growth and invest in communities, has supported 14,000 entrepreneurs since its launch in 2020, the company said. “We all know how vital small businesses are to the Greater Boston economy,” said Carolyne Hannan, senior vice president of Comcast’s New England region.
In addition to the $5,000, prizes include a technology makeover, with computer equipment and Internet, voice and cybersecurity services provided for a year; creative production and media such as a professionally produced 30-second TV commercial and a media strategy consultation; education resources, including access to online entrepreneurship courses and resources for small-business owners; and business coaching sessions. Taxes and other fees may apply for some services.
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