11.30.17
Accelerating Women-Owned, Online-Digital Companies
Tammy Y. Allen, Director, Marketing & Programs, The NIIC
November 30, 2017, Fort Wayne, Ind. – Female founders of online-digital companies (e-commerce, apps and IT-related ventures) have a new way to accelerate the launch and growth of their companies. Launch Women Business Builder Program is being offered through a partnership of The NIIC, Women’s Entrepreneurial Opportunity Center (WEOC), and GAN Accelerator.
The program consists of two phases. The initial phase will be January 8 through March 31, 2018, and consists of a 12-week, intensive, accelerator-like business building program with a projected time commitment of 7 to 10 hours per week per participating company. While Phase 1 focuses on building the businesses, Phase 2 of the program focuses on implementing, accelerating, and growing the businesses. The program culminates with the WEOC Launch Women Pitch Competition, an annual event held at The NIIC. “Participation in the program requires high commitment and a high energy level. What makes this program unique is the combination of a community component located in Northeast Indiana augmented with the global, online component available through our partnership with GAN,” said Karl R. LaPan, President & CEO, The NIIC.
“We’re excited to be partnering with The NIIC on this new program. It’s designed to give women-owned businesses in Indiana greater representation, access to capital, entrepreneurial tools, mentoring, and resources. It’s great because the businesses that The NIIC has helped to start and grow have a 91.6 percent survivability rate,” said Pat Riley, CEO, GAN.
There is no cost to participants of the program. The support of Northeast Indiana entrepreneurs is made possible through generous funders, The NIIC Ideas@Work Signature Event and The NIIC. Up to five companies will be included in the first cohort of the program. For more information about the program, visit the Launch Women Business Builder web page. The application process is open through December 27, 2017, and the first cohort will be announced January 3, 2018.
About The NIIC
The NIIC is a non-profit, vibrant entrepreneurial community. We help business builders and entrepreneurs launch and grow successful business ventures. Formed in 1999 by a consortium of community and government leaders and organizations in 2013, The NIIC was recognized by Entrepreneur magazine as one of the top four under-the-radar incubators in the country. This basically means Entrepreneur magazine, with the help of International Business Incubation Association, picked four U.S. incubators to highlight, and we were one of them. In their words, we “stand out in a state not always perceived as small business friendly.” The NIIC is the country’s only ISO9001: 2008 registered business incubation and acceleration program. TheNIIC.Org
About GAN
In 2010, at the encouragement of two TechStars co-founders—Brad Feld and David Cohen—GAN was launched to align with the accelerator industry around globally accepted best practices and create a standardized model for their success. In January 2014, GAN became an independently operated organization. Today, GAN has more than 80 accelerators in its community, running programs in 120+ cities all over the world, which have supported a total of around 4,700 startups. GAN Corporates & GAN Ventures are further empowering startups, wherever they are. https://www.gan.co/
