Local Grants: Austin Community Foundation’s Forever Austin Fund is handing out $2.5M in grants across Central Texas, including support for organizations helping people grow small businesses and build long-term wealth. AI for SMBs: Penang tourism leaders say AI is now “a necessity,” urging hoteliers, restaurants, and SMEs to use AI-powered digital marketing and recommendations to pull in travelers. SMB Training & Support: Indiana’s Regional Entrepreneurial Pipeline (REaP) launches an East Central Indiana program for new and early-stage entrepreneurs, with weekly sessions on readiness, banking prep, marketing, pricing, and formation. Local Business Spotlight: The Enterprise is launching “Best of Martin County,” a readers’ choice event that lets residents nominate and vote for local small businesses and service providers. Rising Costs & Reliability Pressure: Virginia leaders urge water conservation as the Roanoke drought region hits emergency status—an issue that can quickly affect farms and small businesses. Tech & Security for Fintech: Aurora Mobile’s EngageLab says Mocasa in the Philippines deployed advanced OTP authentication to strengthen security while optimizing user experience. SMB Risk Watch: UK regulator Stonegate faces a potential £16m fine threat after launching a statutory investigation into how it handled tied pub tenants’ information and projections. Community Film Funding: A Saxonburg filmmaker is pitching local small businesses to help finance an independent feature shot in town, aiming to keep production money local. Energy Reliability: Bahamas Power and Light outages are drawing public pressure from a cabinet minister, citing impacts on small businesses and residents.