{"id":84663,"date":"2020-02-04T10:26:26","date_gmt":"2020-02-04T16:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=84663"},"modified":"2020-02-05T22:09:19","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T04:09:19","slug":"chicagos-female-founders-find-support-and-resources-through-local-organizations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicagos-female-founders-find-support-and-resources-through-local-organizations\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago\u2019s female founders find support and resources through local organizations"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ruiqi Chen<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

Chicago has the highest proportion of female startup founders in the world, helped by the city\u2019s abundance of support organizations that provide women with resources and a sense of community.<\/p>\n

Research company Startup Genome\u2019s 2019 Global Startup Ecosystem Report found that over a quarter of Chicago\u2019s startups were majority female-founded while the worldwide average trailed at 14%. The company\u2019s analysis<\/a> credited a \u201cgroundswell of women supporting women\u201d and an abundance of women\u2019s business support organizations as a potential explanation.<\/p>\n

One such organization is the Women\u2019s Business Development Center of Chicago, which provides training and guidance to women entrepreneurs. The organization\u2019s managing director of entrepreneurial services Maura Mitchell said there are about 130 business service organizations like it in the city, and many of them offer programs specifically for women as well as financing help.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Dana Todd, CEO and cofounder of made-to-measure online clothing retailer Balodana<\/a>, was a participant in one of the workshops at WBDC and joined a startup development program for women at startup incubator 1871. Todd said these programs helped her stay focused and gain access to resources that led her company to success.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew jumping into a startup full-time I needed somebody to keep me on track and I needed some framework around that,\u201d Todd said, adding that the two organizations helped develop her business plan for Balodana and introduced her to many other women entrepreneurs in the city.<\/p>\n

Todd met Mitchell through one of the training programs she ran at WBDC in the spring of 2018 called \u201cPlan for Profit,\u201d which helps women develop their business plans and perform market research.<\/p>\n

During the 12-week program, Todd said she was \u201creally blown away\u201d by the level of innovation and motivation that the other women in the program exhibited.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy cohort was a really different group of women of all ages and races and their ideas were amazing,\u201d Todd said, adding that she was surprised by the range and originality of many of their idea, such as a construction startup.<\/p>\n

Being around these women, Todd said, helped ease the difficulties and loneliness of being a \u201csolopreneur.\u201d<\/p>\n

Todd is not alone. According to American Express\u2019s 2019 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, most women-owned businesses don\u2019t have any employees. In comparison, the average number of employees for all businesses in the U.S. is close to four.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the isolation issue, I started looking for organizations just so I could get out and be around women that were doing similar things,\u201d said Pamela Krikorian, a freelance designer. That led her to local business support organization West Suburban Women Entrepreneurs, which supports women entrepreneurs in Chicago\u2019s suburban neighborhoods. She currently serves as its membership chair.<\/p>\n

Borislava Baeva, founder of fitness studio subscription company My Strong Circle<\/a>, said she rented space at 1871\u2019s large coworking office in Merchandise Mart, north of downtown Chicago, to ease her feelings of isolation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is so much better than just being stuck at my dining room table and staring at screens and feeling like you\u2019re alone in this world,\u201d Baeva said. \u201cJust having people to talk to who are going through the same thing is really beneficial.\u201d<\/p>\n

Balodana\u2019s Todd also said group events with the wider startup community were the best part of her program at 1871.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou now have an extended family of people, you’ve got an extended access to network, you’ve got resources,\u201d Todd said. \u201cAll you have to do is ask, \u2018Hey, who knows how to do this?\u2019 and you’ve got somebody right there who’s going to be able to help you. And that’s incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: A woman walks into startup incubator 1871, which hosts business development and training programs for women entrepreneurs. Research company Startup Genome credits Chicago’s high proportion of female startup founders to the many business support organizations in the city, such as 1871. (Ruiqi Chen\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ruiqi Chen Medill Reports Chicago has the highest proportion of female startup founders in the world, helped by the city\u2019s abundance of support organizations that provide women with resources and a sense of community. Research company Startup Genome\u2019s 2019 Global Startup Ecosystem Report found that over a quarter of Chicago\u2019s startups were majority female-founded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":635,"featured_media":84666,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,4892],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-winter-2020"],"yoast_head":"\nChicago\u2019s female founders find support and resources through local organizations - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicagos-female-founders-find-support-and-resources-through-local-organizations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chicago\u2019s female founders find support and resources through local organizations - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Ruiqi Chen Medill Reports Chicago has the highest proportion of female startup founders in the world, helped by the city\u2019s abundance of support organizations that provide women with resources and a sense of community. Research company Startup Genome\u2019s 2019 Global Startup Ecosystem Report found that over a quarter of Chicago\u2019s startups were majority female-founded […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicagos-female-founders-find-support-and-resources-through-local-organizations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-04T16:26:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-06T04:09:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/02\/IMG_2658.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"814\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ruiqichen2020\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ruiqichen2020\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/chicagos-female-founders-find-support-and-resources-through-local-organizations\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/chicagos-female-founders-find-support-and-resources-through-local-organizations\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ruiqichen2020\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d7d3f4bd35d114617a027b135d2fe79a\"},\"headline\":\"Chicago\u2019s female founders find support and resources through local organizations\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-04T16:26:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-06T04:09:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/chicagos-female-founders-find-support-and-resources-through-local-organizations\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":666,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/chicagos-female-founders-find-support-and-resources-through-local-organizations\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/s3.amazonaws.com\\\/medill.wordpress.offload\\\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/IMG_2658.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\",\"Winter 2020\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/chicagos-female-founders-find-support-and-resources-through-local-organizations\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/chicagos-female-founders-find-support-and-resources-through-local-organizations\\\/\",\"name\":\"Chicago\u2019s female founders find support and resources through local organizations - 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