News Category: WEOC Women's Business Center (WBC)
02.21.22
Open Enrollment Begins for Women’s Tech Business Accelerator
Cohort 8 Begins March 31, 2022
February 21, 2022, Fort Wayne, Ind.— The WEOC Women’s Business Center (WBC) invites early-stage and growth-driven women tech businesses owners to apply for the Launch Women Business Builder Accelerator. Learn more or apply here.
The year-long accelerator provides a time of intense, rapid, immersive education to accelerate the life cycle of young, innovative companies. “Our accelerator duration is 12 months because we have found that a shorter time frame is not enough time to live life and build a business for most clients. Our cohort members follow through. I am positive it is because of the connection to others who are building businesses at the same time for an entire year,” said Leslee Hill, WEOC WBC Director at The NIIC.
Laneisha Bennet, Owner, Leaving Legacy Memorial and program participant, said, “Being a part of the accelerator has been an amazing experience. It has taught me the fundamentals behind the business. It is not just about the design I provide to customers. The program takes you from basic through advanced business concepts. If you want a successful business, you have to step out of the box and learn.”
Cohort members consistently rate the group mentoring component as high value and a contributor to their success. The accelerator provides a community of support, accountability, motivation, and connectivity. “It can be scary entering into a group of women and baring your dreams and getting completely vulnerable,” said Hill.
Autumn Ferguson, Owner, Simply Serve LLC, said, “I sought a place with like-minded individuals surrounding me. I found that. They helped me take my concept out of my head, put it onto paper, and really think it through. It happened at the right moment in my life. I was able to put myself out there in an uncomfortable manner and join this group. It’s a niche group of women, with an entrepreneurial spirit, like me. They cheered me on. That was what I needed to make my business dream happen.”
Launch Women Business Builder Accelerator Cohort Seven concludes March 7, 2022. Each graduate will pitch her business to fellow cohort members, the WEOC WBC Advisory Council, and NIIC staff. Then they will become part of the esteemed WEOC WBC Launch Women Business Builder Alumnae.
Learn more and apply here for the Launch Women Business Builder Accelerator.
About WEOC Women’s Business Center (WBC) 5,061 individuals across 16 Northeast Indiana counties have been served, trained, and counseled since WEOC Women’s Business Center opened six years ago. WEOC WBC serves Northeast Indiana women at all stages of their business ventures. We respond to women entrepreneurs’ unique needs through business growth coaching, training, entrepreneurial education, connectivity, and access to capital.
WEOC WBC is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. The NIIC serves as the host organization and provides supplemental funding and complementary resources. WEOC WBC is an SBA designated Women’s Business Center—one of two in Indiana—and more than 100 nationwide. For more information, visit www.weocwbc.net.
About The NIIC 499 new products launched, 196 patent applications submitted or granted, and 2,351 jobs created—that is what entrepreneurs have achieved through The NIIC since its inception two decades ago. The NIIC has also connected Northeast Indiana companies to $100.4 million in grants and capital.
The NIIC is a non-profit, vibrant entrepreneurial community designed to advise entrepreneurs to plan, launch, and grow successful business ventures. The NIIC bolsters innovative companies to move ideas into action. The NIIC is located in a designated U.S. Small Business Administration HUB Zone. In April 2018, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb designated The Northeast Indiana Innovation Park Campus as an Opportunity Zone through the U.S. Treasury. The NIIC is the country’s only ISO9001:2015 registered business incubation and acceleration program. Additionally, the International Business Innovation Association (inbia.org) recognized the NIIC as the 2020 Entrepreneur Center of the Year – Mixed-use and awarded it one of the two prestigious industry awards – the 2020 Dinah Adkins Award. TheNIIC.org.
02.16.22
The NIIC Announces Growth to Better Serve Business Owners
Shown left to right: Donna Evans, Anne Marie Labenberg, Rosalina Perez, Jami Thomas
February 16, 2021, Fort Wayne, Ind.—Increased access, expanded resources, training, and connectivity are on the horizon for Northeast Indiana entrepreneurs. The NIIC (Northeast Indiana Innovation Center) is optimizing team member roles to serve the entrepreneurial community better. The results so far are three new staff members and one promotion.
“We’re reconfiguring our team to serve business builders and our community better,” said Mike Fritsch, President and CEO, The NIIC. “We are driven to support stakeholders in our community to work together to help small businesses succeed. This team is making it happen.”
Additions to the team include:
Donna Evans is the new Concierge/Administrative Support Staff. She is the first face people see upon entering the front doors. “I’m fascinated by the ideas our clients have to start and grow businesses. There is a passion and an enthusiastic spirit to help business owners at The NIIC. I’m excited to be challenged, to grow, and to help impact our region in my new role,” said Evans. Before joining The NIIC, she worked in the special education department in Fort Wayne Community Schools and was the Educational Supervisor and secretary for a local private school.
Anne Marie Labenberg is the new Operations Manager for the Community Navigator Pilot Program, formed through a $1 million award from the U.S. SBA and began December 2021. Labenberg leads the program, where The NIIC serves as a hub, working with five partners/spoke organizations. These include: Allen County Public Library, Bankable, Fort Wayne Urban League, Purdue University Extension Community Development, and Region 3a Development and Regional Planning Commission. The Community Navigator Pilot Program focuses on serving women entrepreneurs, minorities, and rural communities. “This program unites my passion for building access to resources and growing networks in communities historically marginalized. It also leans on my experience growing businesses here in Northeast Indiana to help communities develop programs to wrap around entrepreneurs and grow businesses of their own,” said Labenberg. Before joining The NIIC, Labenberg was a tech start-up co-founder and a serial entrepreneur in Northeast Indiana. She also served as a business coach and mentor for WEOC WBC (Women’s Business Center).
Rosalina Perez, WEOC WBC Program Manager, works with Leslee Hill, Program Director, to serve female founders. “I am excited about extending The NIIC’s resources and support to our Hispanic community and to helping immigrants to realize their dreams of business ownership,” said Perez. Perez also focuses on serving rural communities. Before joining The NIIC, Perez was a WEOC WBC client. She helped to form and manage a Fort Wayne-based immigration law firm to represent immigrants in their removal proceedings.
The NIIC promoted Jami Thomas to Business Development Manager. In her new position, she focuses on sustaining and growing relationships with partners and community stakeholders, including through The NIIC’s signature annual Ideas@Work event. She continues her role as Kiva Northeast Indiana Capital Access Manager, a program formed in partnership with The City of Fort Wayne, SEED, and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. “This is an exciting opportunity to support the valuable role we play in the success and growth of entrepreneurs in Northeast Indiana. I’m particularly interested in introducing The NIIC to those who may be unaware of what we do and what we offer to the entrepreneurial and greater community,” said Thomas. For the past two years, Thomas was the Grants Compliance Specialist and Kiva Capital Access Manager.
About The NIIC
499 new products launched, 196 patent applications submitted or granted, and 2,351 jobs created—that is what entrepreneurs have achieved through The NIIC since its inception two decades ago. The NIIC has also connected Northeast Indiana companies to $100.4 million in grants and capital.
The NIIC is a non-profit, vibrant entrepreneurial community designed to advise entrepreneurs to plan, launch, and grow successful business ventures. The NIIC bolsters innovative companies to move ideas into action. The NIIC is located in a designated U.S. Small Business Administration HUB Zone. In April 2018, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb designated The Northeast Indiana Innovation Park Campus as an Opportunity Zone through the U.S. Treasury. The NIIC is the country’s only ISO9001:2015 registered business incubation and acceleration program. Additionally, the International Business Innovation Association (inbia.org) recognized the NIIC as the 2020 Entrepreneur Center of the Year – Mixed-use and awarded it one of the two prestigious industry awards – the 2020 Dinah Adkins Award. TheNIIC.org.
02.10.22
ProSpeak: Latinas, Find Your Voice
Latinos face many barriers when it comes to starting a business. At WEOC Women’s Business Center (WBC), we provide opportunities to break through these barriers; to help individuals start, grow and innovate businesses, and this year we are focusing on the Hispanic community. As a result of barriers I faced and overcame, it is my mission to champion and support Latinas.
Find your voice. Determine what you stand for. Say “no” when someone tries to negatively influence you. Silence or ignore the machismo culture that says you cannot do something merely because of your gender. Use your mistakes as fuel to learn, be better and achieve more.
Education equals opportunity. Our educational system silences Latinas, perpetuating the cycle. Change is happening and you can be part of it. According to Hispanic Women Entrepreneurship: Understand Diversity Among Hispanic Women Entrepreneurs, “between 1993 and 2014, Hispanics’ college enrollment increased 13 percentage points from 22 to 35.” Additionally, “28.1% of Hispanic women business owners have a bachelor’s degree.”
You ARE enough. Throughout my life I believed I wasn’t good enough to succeed. Where were role models who looked like me? This is cultural, yet does not have to remain a barrier.
Jennifer Lopez owns her upbringing as a Puerto Rican in the Bronx, New York, yet evolved as an entrepreneur and businesswoman with an estimated net worth exceeding $150 million, according to Forbes. “Women are sold the idea that they are a dime a dozen and disposable,” says Lopez. “That’s not true.” Identify your skill sets, knowledge and hobbies, and build on those to start or grow a business.
Form a supportive community. Surround yourself with mentors and organizations that hold values like yours. Examples are WEOC Women’s Business Center (WBC), HLCNI and GOALy Amigos.