Meta has announced a new program to support Asian and Pacific Islander-owned small businesses, with its ‘Meta Prosper’ program set to provide educational insights, live networking events and more, beginning this month.

As explained by Meta:

“Meta Prosper will launch new channels on Facebook and Instagram to build a community for API-owned small businesses, inclusive of content published in six languages (Chinese, Hindi, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese) with the goal of driving visibility around the diversity of API voices to build social equity, influence and economic opportunity.”

Coinciding with Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Meta Prosper is hosting a range of events in May, including a live panel during Asian American and Pacific Islander business leaders, a virtual social channel education session, in partnership with Gold House, as well as a ‘Gold Gala’ event on May 22nd to celebrate the launch of the program.

API-owned businesses have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, with research showing that Asian-owned businesses in the US have seen a 26% decline in activity, versus the 22% general average. In addition to this, API-owned businesses have also had to deal with an increase in race-based attacks as a result of the COVID outbreak and its origins.  

With this in mind, Meta’s looking to do all that it can to shine a spotlight on these brands and initiatives, and help them maximize their opportunities.

The Meta Prosper project is another small step in the company’s broader push, and Meta will look to build the program over time to support API-owned brands.