Empowering a Billion Women Global Summit Launches and Opens Funding Accelerator With Goal to Get $1B Into Hands of Women Entrepreneurs Worldwide

Strategy Aimed at Creating Jobs, Helping Business Owner Success, and Fueling Economy

​Empowering a Billion Women by 2020 (EBW2020) hosts its inaugural EBW Global Summit in Austin, TX on Nov 6-7 and announces the public opening of a new funding accelerator platform for women, The EBW Billion Dollar Funders Circle aimed at demystifying and democratizing access to financial resources for women worldwide.  The goal of this platform is to work with funding partners and corporations to get $1B into the hands of women by 2020 through debt, equity, and corporate supplier diversity opportunities.

“Access to qualified deal flow for corporations and funders is one of the biggest hurdles funders and supplier diversity officers face to expanding their ability to fund women led companies,” says Ingrid Vanderveldt, Founder and CEO of EBW2020.  “We aim to solve this problem by bringing access to women founders through EBW who have been mentored, trained, and have the financial knowledge to deliver the results the corporations and funders are seeking”.

10 innovative founders are piloting this platform. The first class has been elected from applications submitted online with an emphasis on for-profit corporations creating social impact inline with the Sustainable Development Goals via the Global Agenda developed by the United Nations.

Finalists include:  Drumfit (led by Danielle Sherbo and Jennie Busing), Discover Pathwaze (Mary Kolbenschlag, Laura Hunsinger), The Renewal Workshop (Nicole Bassett), International School of Story (Emra Smith), VEERAH Public Benefit Corporation (Stacy Chang), Girls Auto Clinic (Patrice Banks), SourceBahn LLC (Charlotte Donoso and Lisette Donado), Folia Health Inc. (Nell Meosky Luo) and mentoring companies Techway Services (Cathi Coan) and The Santana Group (Rosa Santana).

Founders receive access to EBW’s solutions which provide access to education, community, technology, and financial training for the Founders as well as world-class mentorship by the EBW Billion Dollar Funders Circle Board Members.  Board members include: Steve Felice, Former President & Chief Commercial Officer of Dell Inc., Tina Tchen, Former Assistant to President Obama, Former Chief of Staff to Michelle Obama, and Executive Director of The White House Council on Women and Girls; Arnold Baker, Board Member of The US Chamber of Commerce, Lili Hall, Founder and CEO of KNOCK, Ying McGuire, VP of TIG, Denise DeSimone CEO of C-Leveled, Anna McCoy, COO of Urban America and EBW’s Vanderveldt.

Vanderveldt adds, “Our vision is to be the go-to resource for women around the world seeking access to the know-how, relationships, and funding opportunities that will help women grow their businesses to the next level.”  The goal of The EBW Billion Dollar Funders Circle is to have its funding matching platform fully automated by the spring of 2018.  “Our investment and corporate partners are enabling us to achieve that goal and be the bridge between resources and women founders we envision at scale.”

ABOUT EBW Inc.

EBW Inc. is a solutions based corporation that develops financial, mentorship (education), and technology solutions towards its impact goal to “Empower a Billion Women by 2020”.  The business of EBW2020 is focused on connecting women to financial resources and funding opportunities through education, community, and technology where women can earn certifications that build confidence, know-how, and access to resources.  Its business goal is to help 1M women get over the $1M in annual revenue (currently less than 3% ever do).  EBW leverages its global brand to develop Funders which are “changing the world by changing the ratio” to create economic and social impact for women and girls across industries and borders.  For every dollar earned, EBW reinvests a portion back into women and girls in developing countries across the globe through The EBW Foundation.  In the past 12 months alone, EBW has reached women in 75 countries. 

For more information please contact:  Brett Randell,  brett@ebw2020.com

Source: Empowering a Billion Women by 2020