Our Super Duper Live Event!
This past week we participated in the Boston region’s Women Entrepreneur Week (WE BOS Week.) We’re not going to claim that’s what broke the internet on Friday but the timing does look somewhat suspicious! (Just kidding… really.)
We helped promote more than a dozen products from female founded companies on Monday. On Wednesday we held our first Women Innovator’s Night (WIN) – read all about it on FoundersWire. Great event and we’re going to be figuring out how to do more of these.
And, on Friday, we got a very informative briefing on new research on women entrepreneurs and the Boston ecosystem by Dr. Banu Ozkazanc-Pan, from the University of Massachusetts Boston. The research was funded by the Kauffman Foundation. Some facts:
- Women-owned businesses have an economic impact of nearly $3 trillion in the U.S. according to data from the National Women’s Business Council.
- In order to become a stronger player in the global economy, Boston (and other cities) need to do more for women entrepreneurs.
- There is a gap between male and female business ownership in Boston and it is not closing. Meanwhile, other cities, (such as St. Louis) have increased women’s business ownership.
- The fragmented nature of the Boston ecosystem prevents coordinated local efforts for inclusion, despite state and city-level policies to promote inclusive economic growth. Inclusion intentions are very recent and the effectiveness of the practices has not yet been determined.
Just a few of the recommendations:
- More collaboration among entrepreneur support organizations
- Set goals for gender inclusion – track the data!
- Male allies can help amplify inclusion efforts
- Media should focus on successful women entrepreneurs and founders to showcase their presence. Help change the stereotype of the entrepreneurs.
We’re working on a number of helpful articles from last week’s events (full of tips from our AWESOME panelists) – we’ll share them over the course of the week.
