Why Prosper Women Entrepreneurs?
Watch this video to learn more about our programs and why women entrepreneurs are key to economic development.
About Prosper
Women Entrepreneurs Startup Accelerator
In the spring of 2012 a group of St. Louis community leaders first read studies released by the Kauffman Foundation and American Express OPEN reporting on women’s entrepreneurship and its impact on the economy. In the American Express OPEN report, 25 cities were ranked for their number of female-led entrepreneurial businesses. As these local visionaries scanned the list, expecting to see St. Louis somewhere near the top to middle, their eyes kept going lower until the shocking truth became clear: the city that is home to companies such as Monsanto, Cortex and Boeing was ranked last.
What does this mean for a community as it looks to the future? What could it mean for a region if 50% of its population felt more empowered to reach their economic potential?
Prosper Women Entrepreneurs (PWE) was created to advance women-led companies. The Prosper Women Entrepreneurs Startup Accelerator is a for-profit organization focused on increasing women entrepreneurs’ access to growth capital and the number of women investing in early stage capital markets.
Additional information about the entrepreneur gender gap:
Overcoming the Gender Gap: Women Entrepreneurs as Economic Drivers - Kauffman Foundation, 2011
State of Women-Owned Business Report - American Express OPEN, 2013
