Design company Vista has recently announced a partnership with IFundWomen (IFW), the world’s largest funding marketplace for women-owned businesses, in launching a new program that will connect women entrepreneurs around the world with creative resources, capital, and coaching at women’s co-working spaces in five global cities.
The “ReferHer” program will kick off with an exclusive networking dinner that selected women-owned small businesses will be part of across five co-working spaces across the globe. In addition, the selected business owners may nominate a fellow female small-business owner from their community to join them. Then 50 applicants will be selected, ten each from the participating countries of Australia, United States, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom, along with their plus one, for a total of 100 globally.
The selected business owners will also receive the following:
- A seat at an exclusive networking dinner in their country of residence, along with their +1IFW annual membership.
- A Vista package of design and marketing resources.
- Memberships/resources from the co-working space in her respective market for her and her +1.
- Two selected winners in each country will be granted $10,000 towards their business, which will be announced at the dinner.
“We are committed to providing women entrepreneurs with the experiences, tools and resources to help them find success along their journey,” Emily Whittaker, EVP Commerce at Vista, said. “By inviting the winning small-business owners to bring a plus one, Vista hopes to open dialogues to create networks that will rally around women-owned small businesses across the globe. The ReferHer program plays a part in our larger commitment to supporting women-owned small businesses for years to come.”
Karen Cahn, Founder and CEO of IFundWomen, added, “We’re thrilled to partner with Vista for this special opportunity to support women small business owners. Through this program, we’ll celebrate and spotlight this group of entrepreneurs as we continue our mission to closing the funding gap for women-owned businesses.”
Women-owned small businesses can apply between 22 March 22 and 8 April 8. Experts from Vista and IFW will review the applications and announce the 100 small businesses on 26 April. The dinner series will take place in May during US Small Business Month.
