Build Institute and Michigan Women’s Foundation are kicking the new year off with a dynamic, women-driven event series. “Women Will” is a new series geared toward addressing the issues that female entrepreneurs face in Detroit every day. There will also be stories of triumph and success within operating a business. Audience participation and feedback will be a pertinent aspect of the event. Event details include:
- 30-minute networking
- 45-minute panel
- 15-minute audience Q&A
- 15-minute wrap up including instructions on how to submit topic ideas
The event has three dates; January 28 will be the kickoff panel followed by March 24 (Balancing Act) and May 19 (Secure The Bag). The January 28 event will take place from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Build Institute, and it’s free to the public. Women Will is sponsored by Michigan Women Forward.
Women-led entrepreneurship experienced tremendous growth in the last ten years. In 2015, Black Enterprise reported that “women are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the U.S. Women now own 30% of all businesses in the U.S., accounting for some 9.4 million firms.” Also, “African American women control 14% of these companies or an estimated 1.3 million businesses. That figure is larger than the total number of firms owned by all minority women in 1997, the report found.”
To add more context, “Women-owned businesses in Michigan and Metro Detroit are leading in growth and economic clout,” according to Crain’s Detroit Business. “The number of women-owned businesses in metro Detroit more than doubled from 157,090 in 2012 to 358,507 in 2019, representing the largest jump among the top 50 metropolitan areas in the country.”
Black female entrepreneurs such as Roslyn Karamoko (Détroit is the New Black), Yolanda Williams (Cream Blends, Distinct Life), and Melissa Butler (The Lip Bar) are leaders in the free enterprise community in Detroit. They all shared a kindred spirit of empowering women through their personal and professional lives. There are no more Madam C.J. Walker anomalies or male-driven corporations anymore. The playing field is now open to every woman of color. To register for the “Women Will” event, visit eventbrite.com.
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