Meta employee launches company program in honor of grandparents incarcerated during WW2

Throughout the years in the pandemic, small businesses have suffered huge losses in sales and jobs, and have experienced higher shuttering rates and cash flow problems. Businesses owned by APIs are having an especially hard time, according to Meta’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.

“The goal is simple — to provide support, training and a spotlight on API-owned businesses not just during the month of May, but all year round,” Meta’s Global Head of Social Marketing and Head of Meta Prosper Eric Toda said.

Toda helped create Meta Prosper out of a deep respect for his grandparents who lived through Japanese Incarceration and rebuilt their lives from the ground up by opening a dry-cleaning business. The business stood as an integral part of San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood for over 40 years until they retired. Inspired by their legacy, Toda and his team aim to prop up similar small businesses and to help them thrive.

Sandberg noted in a press release that Meta Prosper will provide training resources, content and events available in six languages (Chinese, Hindi, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese) on the initiative’s Facebook and Instagram.

In partnership with Gold House, Meta Prosper will provide a virtual social channel education session on May 11 and also provide additional support through June with Meta office hours for SMBs within the Gold House Founder Network.

“Whenever I think about my grandparents and how they persevered, I just wish they had the capabilities and possibilities that we have now,” Toda said. “Through Meta Prosper, we can do more than give back to the API small business community. We can empower them to move forward and build their own legacies.”