The Center’s 2021 Milestone Makers Program will have Thematic Cohorts
and Focus on Supporting Founders Working on UN Sustainable Development Goals

At the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, we’re committed to investing in the individuals taking big risks to solve problems in new ways. Milestone Makers is a way to help entrepreneurs set, hit, and celebrate milestones critical to company growth. These small cohorts of select entrepreneurs receive individualized mentoring, training, and resources all at no cost.

​Following the tremendous success of the Summer 2020 COVID-19 solutions focused cohort, the Center is pleased to announce that Milestone Makers cohorts in 2021 will focus on supporting early-to-mid stage founders working on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The program will remain virtual and aims to help founders solve some of the world’s biggest problems. The Center will work with these entrepreneurs to define critical business goals and help accelerate their path to achieving them.

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, of which there are 17, provide a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. The goals recognize that “ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.”

For the 2021 Milestone Makers programs, we encourage any founder addressing the following UN Sustainable Development Goals to apply:

• Reduced Inequalities (Spring 2021)
• Industry, innovation and infrastructure
• Sustainable cities and communities
• Decent Work & Economic Growth

The Spring 2021 Milestone Makers Reduced Inequalities cohort, in particular, will support companies that:

• Achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40% of the population
• Empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion
• Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome
• Improve the regulation and monitoring of global financial markets
• Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people
• Encourage official development assistance and financial flows

Applications for the Spring 2021 cohort are now open with the deadline for applications on February 28th at 11:59pm PT. This first cohort of 2021 will begin on March 30th and culminating on June 30th. More information about applying to the Milestone Makers program and these thematic cohorts can be found here.

Through the Center’s expertise and prestigious business network, Milestone Makers works with a small cohort of entrepreneurs one-on-one to define a critical business goal and accelerate their path to achieving it. Participants are individually matched with mentors who are leaders in their industry, offer instant feedback, and take a personal interest in helping them grow. The part-time, three-month program elevates and amplifies the participant’s brand through media and PR opportunities, culminating with a celebration that widely shares their success on Nasdaq’s Times Square Tower.

The Center, in partnership with our corporate sponsors, is proud to make this a free program with a pay-it-forward philosophy. As a distinguished part of our community, Milestone Makers return to teach, share, and nominate the next cohort of great leaders.

If you are not a founder that qualifies for the thematic cohorts defined above but know of one, you can nominate them here.