Grants for Prius Related Business

not that i've heard of, but you may want to pm avi's automotive and luscious garage. its a great idea, all the best!

small business association. when i started mine, there were grants for women, veterans and minorities. at least 51% owned. of course, that was 1985.

 

I am positive there are programs for women owned/run businesses. There pamphlets of government programs at work. I'll check tomorrow.

 

Tell your local congress person about your plan to increase economic activity in his/her district. Ask their assistance to obtain funding.

Gotta have than plan, and explain it simply because your local rep may not be...all that smart.

 

In Australia there are companies which specialise in helping you find business development grants. They take a commission on whatever they can find you, but because of that, they'll work hard to find every grant you might be entitled to. Also, because they know what they're doing, they're good at the paperwork, and good at ensuring that your application will be successful. I would assume that there are similar companies in America: it'd be worth a look.

 

I was thinking you can become the go to battery refurbish queen of priuschat. Walk us through the rebuilding process of replacing cells and get us back on the road without spending a fortune. Good business?

SM-N900P ?

 

Check with your state university. They may have a small business support program. Or possibly even mentors for free or low cost.

 

Tap into the SBA....or Small Business Administration.
The U.S. Small Business Administration | SBA.gov

They just got a new boss and (she says) her vision is all about empowerment.

In addition to all of the usual dot gov things, the SBA has recently increased their micro-loan program to $50k and they have specific programs for women entrepreneurs, including all of the usual grants and some matching programs.
It's a lot like college scholarships.
There's money out there if you have a good plan.

Wiki has a fairly detailed thumbnail sketch.
Small Business Administration - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I noticed that you're in SoCal.
If you're not stapled to that location you may want to consider starting your business one or two states over.

No disrespect intended towards the good peeps in SoCal, but if you have a passion for the business that you're about to embark in you're going to need to consider geography and politics.
SoCal favors Prius based businesses because of fuel prices, population density and other factors. The state government probably has more programs for women and minority business development than.....say Alabama or Mississippi BUT....there's a price for that.

Good Luck!

 

Oops.
My bad.
My eyes have never been this old before.

Good Luck!

 

Just another thought...

Have you thought about speaking to Toyota itself, or to your local Japanese consulate? If it's high-profile enough, they might be interested, or there may be Japanese government export grants available. I know they do a lot of that sort of thing in developing countries, but I'm not sure whether they do the same thing in developed countries. (If you saw The Amazing Race last week, you'll have seen that the taxis in Colombo are now Priuses, and I'm willing to bet that this wasn't paid for by the drivers themselves or the Sri Lankan government; when I was last in Colombo, the taxis were all 20-year-old heaps.)