Starting a business is a difficult endeavor for any aspiring entrepreneur, but it’s historically even more difficult for female founders.
Besides being typically underrepresented in leadership roles and on management teams, females starting companies haven’t had the role models and mentors of their male counterparts.
But statistics show signs of a shift, as the number of women-owned businesses has grown by over 26 percent since 2007 (National Women’s Business Council). According to the 2016 Kauffman Index of Startup Activity, women now make up 40 percent of new entrepreneurs nationwide—the highest it has been since 1996.
The Pink Ceiling launched nearly two years ago to support the development and growth of female-owned and focused startups in the Triangle and around the world. It held a local version of the national InnovateHER contest earlier this year, sending one founder to the national competition. Other efforts include NCIDEA’s SoarTriangle program, which helps promising female entrepreneurs raise capital, NC State’s annual Innovative Women’s Conference later this month and the Women In Tech Summit, coming in November.
But alongside all those activities is Research Triangle Park’s year-long focus on promoting women in business. It kicked off with a showing of the Dream Girl documentary earlier this year and dedicated September’s RTP180 to showcasing female leaders in the Triangle.
The foundation’s latest effort is to harness the potential of the increasing number of women entrepreneurs moving to the area with a competition called TrailblazHER, which provides a year of free workspace and other business services for a female-founded, owned or focused business.
Audience members listen to a speaker at the September RTP180 event held at The Frontier, which focused on Women in Business. | Credit: Kirsten Barber, ExitEvent
According to the contest page, the goal behind this competition is to foster a community that is welcoming to women entrepreneurs and business owners, to build a culture of support in Research Triangle Park and provide beneficial opportunities to a company that embodies the spirit of Research Triangle Park and The Frontier community.
“Research Triangle Park has taken a very focused approach to serving the women of our community,” says Research Triangle Park Programs Manager Anna Rhyne. “We are working to build a culture within RTP where women are helping women. This competition is an effort to support a woman entrepreneur within our ecosystem.”
The winning company will be treated to a prize package provided by businesses in The Frontier. Valued at over $11,000, the package consists of 12 months of free office space at The Frontier with use of conference rooms, a video and blog profile, complimentary access to community events, and 20 hours of consulting services from four companies in The Frontier—Oak City Technology, Purple Goldfish, Unity Digital Agency and iFund Women.
The winner will be working alongside female leaders already present in The Frontier, including Maari Casey of Uncompany and Alisa Kerr of Unity Digital, says Rhyne. The goal for The Frontier is to find a female leader that will help build up the existing mentorship and community environment of the space and to build up business women.
Participants will be judged on their company’s mission and business model and asked to consider how their company is growing in their current environment and how joining The Frontier community would improve their business. The contest consists of three different stages, with the initial round selected by a panel of judges from The Frontier. The deadline for the applications is October 12.
Those who make it to the third stage of the competition will be required to submit a two-minute video outlining why they should be selected as the winner. The finalist videos will be shared and open to the public to vote on. A winner will be chosen on December 7.
Applicants outside of the Triangle and even North Carolina are welcome to apply as long as they meet the basic criteria, says RTP Marketing and Special Projects Manager Julie Terry.
Next year the Triangle will see another female entrepreneur join the growing Research Triangle Park community. The participation of both business leaders and the public to find the TrailblazHER winner, Terry believes, will produce the best business to build up women in the workplace.
