NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESS Newswire / June 3, 2025 / GoDaddy
Originally published in GoDaddy's 2024 Sustainability Report
Inclusive Entrepreneurship
GoDaddy empowers and champions entrepreneurs everywhere.
We recognize that the entrepreneurial journey is as diverse and unique as the individuals who embark on it. We're on a mission to inspire inclusive entrepreneurship, transforming the way people work and live for the better. We uphold our commitment to inclusive entrepreneurship by offering support to entrepreneurs and studying and promoting the beneficial impact our entrepreneurs have on their communities.
At GoDaddy, inclusive entrepreneurship means everyone deserves the opportunity to pursue their independent ventures and forge their own paths. Entrepreneurship fuels local economies globally, and we've seen through our Venture Forward small business research initiative that it can also increase generational wealth, reduce income gaps, and enhance livelihoods around the world.
Empower by GoDaddy Pillars
Education
Mentorship
Networking
Access to Capital
Empower by GoDaddy
Our signature social impact program, Empower by GoDaddy, aims to support small businesses as they create and grow their business online.
We partner with well-established nonprofits and community organizations to support entrepreneurs, and our employees play an integral role by serving as coaches and mentors. Through strong relationships with both community partners and employee volunteers, Empower by GoDaddy provides entrepreneurs:
A 12 course educational series, offered in English and Spanish.
In-person and virtual workshops with training on branding, marketing, website building, SEO fundamentals, social media management, AI- driven content creation strategies, and other foundational business topics related to growing their businesses online.
Virtual one-on-one and group mentorship and coaching.
In-kind products and services and a network of support.
Access to wraparound services in select markets that remove additional barriers to program participation, including financial, tax, and business planning, use of laptops, and meeting spaces.
In 2024, we expanded our in-kind product donations to provide each Empower by GoDaddy graduate with:
A professionally branded email.
A free .com or .org domain for two years.
Free web hosting for two years.
Additional free and discounted products for entrepreneurs who completed the program, including an additional GoDaddy Registry domain.
Enrollment in a qualified product discount program upon graduation for up to six years following program completion.
These free products help thousands of entrepreneurs boost their business and make their dreams a reality, and we're always looking for new ways to support them.
1.75 Million: Invested over $1.75 million to support entrepreneurs.
19k: Facilitated nearly 19,000entrepreneur learning engagements1.
630: Supported entrepreneur completion or improvement of nearly 630 websites.
290: Organized almost 40 employee-led workshops, complementing the nearly 290 workshops led by Empower by GoDaddy partner coaches.
Empower by GoDaddy Spotlights
PARTNER
The Last Mile is a team of social innovators breaking the cycle of incarceration by providing access to technical education and training. Through The Last Mile Education Program, incarcerated individuals acquire critical skills, education, and mentorship networks that facilitate their reintegration into society.
In our recent gap analysis of the populations we serve, GoDaddy identified formerly incarcerated entrepreneurs as a significant growth area for 2024. Research shows that formerly incarcerated individuals are more likely to become self-employed entrepreneurs as compared to other individuals.2 We partnered with The Last Mile to enhance their entrepreneurship education and incarceration- to-work programming, broadening the reach of our social impact initiatives in a meaningful way.
CUSTOMER
Chef Denella Belin of Nella's Innovative Kreations is dedicated to preserving and sharing ancestral foods that represent the Navajo Nation and surrounding tribes of Arizona. Through her business, Nella advocates for Indigenous food sovereignty and educates others on the cultural and medicinal value of ancestral foods. Empower by GoDaddy provided her with the digital skills to expand her business, increase customer engagement, and enhance her "online presence.
"I have benefited from Empower by GoDaddy by acquiring skills that would be a challenge to acquire elsewhere. Since completing my cohort, my business has grown, and I have increased my customers through the website. The key skills I have gained are very impactful, and I now feel more confident designing my website and using other digital tools to help my business grow." - Denella Belin, Nella's Innovative Kreations, Phoenix, Arizona
EMPLOYEE
Mike Chorba is a GoDaddy employee and a dedicated Empower
by GoDaddy volunteer. Through Empower by GoDaddy, Mike supported entrepreneurs in growing their businesses and witnessed the real-time impact that GoDaddy employee volunteers have by h"elping demystify the process of taking an idea online.
"Empower by GoDaddy allowed me to share the knowledge I've gained through the years at GoDaddy with people who had dreams of getting a project online but weren't in a position to do so without some help." - Mike Chorba, GoDaddy Social Media Specialist and Empower by GoDaddy Volunteer since 2019
Made in America
We understand the importance of providing entrepreneurs with a platform to share their unique stories. To celebrate their resilience and determination, and in partnership with Empower by GoDaddy, we created the documentary series, Made in America. This series follows small business owners with unique backgrounds as they start and grow their businesses and make a meaningful impact in their communities.
Premiering in 2024, the most recent season takes viewers to Ohio and follows two sets of determined entrepreneurs who are betting on themselves and working to create a brighter future. The season features Carter's BBQ owners Darren W. Carter and Theresa Carter, a husband-and-wife team who started running a barbecue trailer and are involved in foster care.
The season also features Gray Brush Vintage Market owners Lisa Brickey and Vonda Rogers. Deeply rooted in their community, these friends since kindergarten started their business in 2021, turning their shared love for vintage treasures into something special.
As part of the Rust Belt, Ohio was hit hard by economic downturns.
In season five, we witness a resurgence of small businesses that are helping revive the state's economy. These everyday Ohioans embody the resilience of their state, from metropolitan Cleveland to rural Appalachia, by doing the hard work it takes to achieve their dreams and lifting up the communities around them. Following its launch, season five episodes were collectively viewed nearly half a million times on YouTube.
"As an entrepreneur you basically bet on yourself. But you do need somebody to bet on you." - Darren W. Carter, Co-Owner, Carter's BBQ
Since its debut in 2019, Made in America has earned several major awards, including the YouTube Works Breaking Barriers Award, a Digiday Content Marketing Award, a Webby Award Honoree, and a Ragan Award.
"The world seems to be changing. Having your own business and working for yourself and providing that freedom and that flexibility - in this second act of our lives, we want more." - Vonda Rogers, Co-Owner, Gray Brush Vintage Market
Venture Forward
The long-term success of entrepreneurs and their microbusinesses plays a vital role in supporting the economic wellbeing and resilience of communities. GoDaddy Venture Forward is a research initiative that quantifies the impact that over 20 million microbusinesses have on their local economies, and provides a unique view into the attitudes, demographics, and needs of these entrepreneurs.
Since 2019, the initiative has surveyed more than 50,000 entrepreneurs with a digital presence. In 2024, Venture Forward gathered insights from over 10,000 entrepreneurs across the U.S., United Kingdom, and for the first time, Australia and Canada. The 2024 GoDaddy Venture Forward surveys explored microbusiness trends and revealed new perspectives on emerging AI technologies.
2024 Venture Forward key U.S. survey findings include:
+7: Over new jobs are created by each microbusiness entrepreneur on a county-level.
0.11: Each additional microbusiness per 100 people in a county can decrease the unemployment rate by 0.11 percentage points.
41%: 41% of respondents turned their supplemental income into their main source of income.
51%: 51% of microbusinesses are women-owned (+10% since August 2019).
In the 2024 U.S. national survey, GoDaddy aimed to assess year-over-year perception of generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), understand current usage, and capture expectations for this new technology. The survey found:
44%: 44% of small business owners believe GenAI will allow them to compete with larger businesses.
50%: 50% of respondents have used GenAI tools in the past few months.
Venture Forward Microbusiness Data Hub
Microbusinesses, those with fewer than 10 employees, are small-scale enterprises, often operated by a single individual or a small team. These businesses typically rely on a digital presence to reach customers and scale their operations, making them a key part of today's interconnected world. Despite their size, microbusinesses impact their local communities and economies in big ways.
To support and amplify the impact of these businesses, Venture Forward launched the Microbusiness Data Hub in 2022. This platform provides unprecedented access to free, downloadable, anonymized data on more than 20 million microbusinesses and their owners across the U.S. and U.K. In 2024, research was expanded to include Canada and Australia. Refreshed quarterly, the data hub offers valuable insights into microbusiness density by geography, empowering policymakers, researchers, and community leaders to more effectively support small business growth.
To learn more, read our 2024 Sustainability Report.
About This Report
This GoDaddy 2024 Sustainability Report details our progress toward our corporate sustainability goals, strategies, and initiatives in support of our overarching corporate mission and values. Unless otherwise noted, this report reflects our corporate sustainability performance across our global operations covering the fiscal year period from January 1 to December 31, 2024. To demonstrate our commitment to transparent communication regarding our sustainability progress, we routinely share updates through our websiteand our annual Sustainability Report. We welcome your questions, comments, and feedback on this report by contacting ESG@GoDaddy.com.
This report references the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, includes select Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) metrics for the Internet Media and Services sector, and the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). We also disclose our contributions and progress toward priority UN SDGs. For additional information on how we align with these frameworks and key indicators demonstrating our sustainability performance, please refer to the Frameworks & Metricssection.
1Represents the total number of entrepreneurs that have had at least one contact (i.e., group workshop, facilitated course, one-on-one mentorship) or who have completed one course in the online self-serve learning portal.
2Hwang, Kylie and Hwang, Kylie and Phillips, Damon J., Entrepreneurship as a Response to Labor Market Discrimination for Formerly Incarcerated People (March 6, 2020).
View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from GoDaddy on 3blmedia.com.
Contact Info:
Spokesperson: GoDaddy
Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/godaddy
Email: info@3blmedia.com
SOURCE: GoDaddy
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:
https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/telecommunications/godaddy-2024-sustainability-report-customers-and-communities-%7c-inclusive-entrepr-1035009
