Femly’s Arion Long wins Grow Your Biz Contest, backed by Mastercard and Bank of America

Femly Founder and CEO Arion Long was named the winner of a national small business competition organized by Mastercard and Bank of America.
Long, the Founder and CEO of the subscription box company offering regular delivery of organic feminine care products, won the Grow Your Biz Contest at a pitch competition in New York on November 8. The competition awarded $25,000 and access to individual coaching.

.@mastercard and @bofa_tips announce @FEMLYBOX as the winner of the second annual Grow Your Biz Contest https://t.co/SHPJrzI8mG pic.twitter.com/jdFGUrKw4N

— Mastercard News (@MastercardNews) November 9, 2018

Femly offers monthly delivery of feminine care products including tampons, panty liners and menstrual pads as well as added self-care items like face masks, chocolate and teas. Long is also seeking to build a business-to-business offering that allows companies to offer feminine care products for free in public restrooms. The funding will assist with completion of manufacturing products, and the company is also seeking office space in Baltimore city.
For the competition, entrepreneurs from around the country submitted online videos answering the question, “How do you plan to grow your small business?” Four finalists were then selected for the event in New York.
Judges included Create and Cultivate CEO Jaclyn Johnson, Bonin Bough of CNBC’s “Cleveland Hustles” Mastercard Head of North America Small Business for Mastercard Ginger Siegel and Bank of America Northeast Small Business Division executive Kevin Kelly.
“While these businesses may be small, they are also mighty, and driven by an ambition to grow and expand their customer base,” Siegel said in a statement. “Most small businesses don’t have chief marketing, finance or risk officers to help get them there. Together with Bank of America, we are working to help fill this void by delivering the tools and solutions small business owners need, as well as partnering on programs like Grow Your Biz that provide the guidance and resources necessary to thrive.”
For Femly, the win builds on recent pitch competition success at Betamore’s Beta City and Salisbury University’s Shore Hatchery. As the company looks to scale, Long said the access to leaders in finance and marketing through this win will be beneficial.