Adriana Gascoigne

I am honored to have been invited with Girls in Tech to Springboard’s Winners’ Circle Awards Celebration Dinner on October 30th at The Loeb Boathouse at Central Park in New York.

This event will celebrate entrepreneurial women and the community that supports them. Some of the honorees for the evening include Geraldine B. Laybourne, founder and former chairman and CEO, Oxygen Media and Maggie Wilderotter, Chairman and CEO, Frontier Communications Corporation.

As I was browsing Springboard’s website, I was astounded by some of the statistics that they had posted on their site regarding women in business. I’ve posted some excerpts from their site below:

In 1997, women ran 9 million businesses with revenues of $3 trillion and a work force of 27 million. The growth rate of women-led businesses was twice the rate of their male counterparts and the industries they were choosing to enter were the ‘non-traditional sectors” such as finance, manufacturing and technology. Further research revealed, however, that while access to capital sources had improved for women-led businesses, women were not accessing the equity capital necessary to finance these non-traditional businesses. According to Venture One, only 1.7% of the billions in venture capital investments made in 1997 had been invested in women-led businesses.

Conceived in 1999, Springboard 2000 Enterprises, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating women entrepreneurs’ access to the equity markets. The organization recruits, educates, showcases and supports women-led high-growth businesses as they seek venture capital and grow. The co-founders include Kay Koplovitz, Amy Millman, Denise Brosseau, Cate Muther, Jim Robbins, Andrea Silbert, Debra Filtzer and Karen Bixby as well as countless investors, accountants, lawyers, entrepreneurs and leaders in academia, government and business.

The entrepreneurs involved with Springboard are the newest faces in the world of emerging growth enterprises and, certainly, the first wave of women to launch non-lifestyle businesses and finance the launch of their businesses via the equity markets. Measureable Results Springboard companies have raised capital, grown their businesses, expanded their networks and made new business connections through their involvement with Springboard.

• 360 women entrepreneurs at 17 venture forums hosted in 7 markets in the USA.
• $4 billion in equity capital, grants and strategic investments raised.
• 7 Springboard companies went public since July 2004.
• 25% merged or were acquired.
• One company has successfully completed is SB-2 SEC filing, another method of entering the public markets.
• 80% of Springboard companies continue to grow as independent or part of merged entities.
• 2/3 of Springboard alumnae are serial entrepreneur and have graduate and/or professional degrees.
• 50% are no longer with the businesses they presented at a Springboard Forum.
• Most have launched new ventures, become investors or returned to the corporate world. Springboard alumnae are global leaders headquartered or doing businesses in China, India, Singapore, Israel, Ghana, Germany, England, Switzerland, Sweden, Taiwan among others.
• 5000 women entrepreneurs leading software, technology, new media, consumer & business products, bio & life sciences industries have participated at Springboard Forums, Workshops and Equity Matters Seminars.
• 5000 investors, financiers and business development professionals have actively participated in Springboard programs and recruiters, coaches, screeners and attendees.
• Springboard and our portfolio companies have been featured in several cover stories and covered extensively by most major print and internet media outlets.

About Springboard:

Venture-Catalyst Springboard Enterprises is the go-to organization for information about and support for emerging growth ventures led by women. Springboard has become a central player in the infrastructure that fosters women’s entrepreneurship with the goal of connecting women entrepreneurs and investors nationally and globally. What began as a series of Venture Capital Forums seeded and promoted by hundreds of supporter has proven to be a highly effective model for fast-tracking women entrepreneurs into the equity markets.

Springboard educates, showcases and supports women entrepreneurs as they seek capital and build their businesses.

We promote women’s entrepreneurial development through alliances, partnerships and direct programming. This includes targeted education and coaching initiatives, strategic connections with investors, community and venture capital forums that showcase some of the most talented and innovative women-led companies. Our web-based Learning Center, local workshops and seminars, and membership program service a wide audience of exceptionally talented women leading growth businesses.

Our mission is to:

• Accelerate women entrepreneurs’ access to the equity markets
• Promote the success of Springboard portfolio companies and alumnae
• Increase equity investments in women-led ventures

Springboard companies have not only successfully raised significant amounts of capital, but have also fortified their businesses, expanded their networks and forged valuable new business connections as a result of their involvement .

 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at 4:55 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.