Entrepreneurs Connect in Washington DC for Program Supporting Women Business Owners

With Women's Equality Day approaching and National Women's Small Business Month around the corner, Visa hosted it's She's Next Program at Dock5 in Washington D.C. The amount of women entrepreneurs has increased by 15.4% since 2016 (Kauffman Foundation) and women still face more challenges than their male counterparts including accessing capital and networking with entrepreneurs for support.

This exactly why the She's Next, Empowered by Visa program and supported by the Female Founder Collective (launched in January 2019) was such a great opportunity for attendees. It allowed like-minded women entrepreneurs to hear from experts for education and inspiration to increase the likelihood of success. The program is a global initiative to support women small business owners as they build, sustain and advance their businesses.

Ready to kickstart your career? Internship with Outstanding Entrepreneurs in the Washington DC Area

DC Bootcamp: Get Your Company Up & Running

Bark Tank Deadline Coming Up Soon

During the event, participants had the opportunity to participate in a few different ways:

She's Next Story Lab – an opportunity for participants to tell their story and share advice and challenges that they faced in starting and building their small business.
Pledge Wall – an opportunity to share resolutions and commitments to supporting the community of women entrepreneurs.
Conversation Corners – intimate conversations with leaders and small business experts from Chase for Business, Yelp and Authorize.net.
She's Next Lounge – networking with fellow business owners, connect with the Visa team and sign up to the portal to stay connected.

The event focuses on giving female entrepreneurs in the DC area an opportunity to discuss some of the challenges facing small business owners and sparking solutions. Some of the speakers at the program include–Jovita Carranza, US Treasurer; Chrissy Houlahan, House of Representatives, 6th Congressional District of Pennsylvania; Tina Wells, CEO and Founder of Buzz Marketing Group and Nastia Liukin, Entrepreneur & 5-Time Olympic Medalist.

In addition to launching a new program called Practical Business Skills which built on their flagship consumer financial literacy initiative–Practical Money Skills. The Practical Business Skills program is a one-stop portal with free resources, information and interactive tools to help business owners start, manage and grow their small businesses.