The path of the entrepreneur is often shaped by personal challenges and struggles. Like the Black Hawk chopper pilot who would pick up pieces of metal on the battlefield in Afghanistan, or the single mom with just $32 to her name struggling to keep her house, or the designer who was diagnosed with cancer and underwent a double mastectomy.
These women went on to launch businesses that were informed and inspired by their experiences. The chopper pilot, Katie Bigelow, would launch Mettle Ops, a firm that recently landed a $9.1 million government contract working on sustainability and soldier survival for the Department of Defense. The single mom, Gwen Jimmere, would launch Naturalicious, a natural hair care brand, and become the first African-American women to receive a patent for a natural hair product. The designer, Julie Hyde-Edwards, launched re-Contour and created a mastectomy dressing that heals scar tissue.
These are the types of people and stories that inForum, a professional organization focused on accelerating the careers of women, aims to celebrate and elevate.
“People need to know what these entrepreneurs are doing. That’s how they get investment. They get mentors and get connected to other great women who want to help them and support them,” says ‘Tember Shea, director of inForum’s inGAGETM program, a master class geared toward high-growth women entrepreneurs like Bigelow, Jimmere, and Hyde-Ewards.
The inGAGETM program launched in August 2012 with the goal of helping women entrepreneurs as well as investors looking to invest in those entrepreneurs. The master class covers topics such as sales, entrepreneurial law, and negotiation. Participants are asked to assess their companies in terms of operations, management, finances, and personnel.
There’s an inGAGETM cohort about every year, with 11 cohort members participating in 2017. While the master class tuition is $1,500, NEI supports Inforum to provide scholarships to bootstrapping entrepreneurs who may find that fee a barrier to participating.
Since its inception, the 100 women entrepreneurs from the first eight inGAGETM cohorts have incorporated 41 new companies, created 384 jobs, and have been granted 35 new patents. Inforum has provided support to assist these women entrepreneurs in raising more than $41.8 million in new capital.
“[In my role,] I’m able to watch women who are passionate about what they do,” says Shea.
“They are growing wealth for their families, they’re employing people and helping them grow wealth for themselves, and they’re giving back.”
In 2017, inForum created an affinity group for women who have gone through the master class to continue to strengthen those connections made during the cohort.
inGAGETM also offers a Role Model and Investor Series, a quarterly event that connects emerging and experienced entrepreneurs with inspiring founders and investors.
It aims to help women who have achieved business success to give back.
“We know that investment only diversifies when the community of investors is diverse,” says Shea, “so it’s important to help our entrepreneurs learn how to do that for the next generation and make it a little easier for the next woman coming up.”