For small business owners, finding funding is a full-time job

Andrew Leon Hanna’s first experience with entrepreneurship started far from Silicon Valley, in his family’s primary care practice in Jacksonville, Florida.

Born to Egyptian immigrants, Andrew grew up alongside the practice his father built from the ground up. After school, he spent his afternoons watching patients come and go and connections being made. But it wasn’t until years later when his father retired that the full scope of his influence became clear: “I saw heartfelt notes from patients throughout the community — how he treated them like family, even saved and changed their lives.”

These moments showed him the effect that small businesses can have, far beyond the services they provide, as cultural anchors and economic engines for their cities and towns.

Small businesses create two-thirds of net new jobs in the United States and serve as the backbone of local economies, but many, especially those in underserved communities, struggle to access capital, trusted financial guidance and networks. This is particularly challenging for businesses that generate under $1 million in revenue, which represent the majority of small businesses in the U.S.

Finding funding is fragmented, time-consuming and often out of reach, but Hanna, co-founder Anny Dow, and their team are building Mona to change that. Mona pairs AI-powered financial coaching and capital navigation with human mentorship to help entrepreneurs navigate decisions, secure funding and build more sustainable businesses — in turn building more resilient communities. 

The process of securing funding can be overwhelming, Hanna says. Entrepreneurs regularly spend hours each week searching for loans, grants and government programs across a variety of disjointed platforms, often submitting the same information repeatedly and still missing opportunities.

Mona’s platform — named earlier this month as one of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas for 2026 — is all about ease and accessibility. Entrepreneurs begin with a short intake form that captures key business information. From there, AI matches them to relevant funding opportunities across loans, grants and public programs while also helping to generate tailored applications to optimize their overall capital strategy.

But technology alone is not enough, he says. “For small business owners, financial decisions — particularly around capital access — are incredibly consequential. The right decision can unlock growth and long-term economic mobility; the wrong one can create burdensome debt, drain savings, and put the business and the individual at risk.”

That’s why Mona also includes human coaching to deliver ongoing, personalized guidance to support entrepreneurs as they navigate growth decisions, manage cash flow and plan for the future.

Mona’s work is gaining momentum, thanks in part to its selection as one of two winners of the 2026 Mastercard Strive USA Innovation Fund, supported by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. Working with the Center, Mona will embed its AI coaching tool within community development financial institutions, business support organizations like chambers of commerce, and other small business service providers. The aim is to offer coaching to small businesses across the country, starting in Chicago’s South Side.