Women Entrepreneurs: Innovative Approaches to Financing New Businesses
Milken InstituteSamantha Ettus, Lisa Hall, Karen Mills, Peggy Wallace, Melinda Wittstock, Brad Belt, Ken Hochbetter, Rebecca Taylor, Jan Chafer, Charlotte Rinder-Knecht, Rochelle Vias, Diane Tom, Philip Gardner
- The Milken Institute intends to explore capital access and job creation this year through roundtables on crowdfunding and infrastructure investment, while launching a major initiative to catalyze foreign direct investment in underserved emerging markets and continuing its Women's Capital Access Program.
- The Small Business Administration (SBA) plans to triple the number of registered women-owned businesses, significantly increase federal contracts set aside for them, and has launched a new early-stage fund with a $1 billion commitment over the next five years, aiming to deploy $200 million annually.
- The Calvert Foundation targets a $20 million capital raise for its "Women Investing in Women" initiative to lend to microfinance institutions and expects its "one in three" concept to help reach full employment, while also providing capital for infrastructure such as daycare and health care facilities.
- Peggy Wallace anticipates a demographic shift where intergenerational wealth transfer increases women's financial control, a rising number of female angel investors from 1% to 12%, and a market shift toward recognizing women's hybrid business models and later-life entrepreneurship profiles.
- Golden Seeds aims to apply a billion-dollar investment approach to back "the next Google" in the search engine market, while Ingrid Vanderbilt's efforts are expected to result in a $100 million fund for young startups.
- Industry projections include the continued establishment of accelerators specifically for women, increased fluency in coding and financial literacy to overcome barriers, and the expectation that the "time to be entrepreneurs" will drive significant growth in women-led manufacturing and contracting segments.
- Strategic goals for the year include helping News It reach revenue milestones for Series A financing, training women to network effectively via the Springboard Venture Forum, and the belief that aligning personal money with values regarding women's economic empowerment will create a multiplier effect.