UW receives grant to help female entrepreneurs

The Women in Business Council of the UW–Madison School of Business will receive a $41,000 Coleman Foundation grant for an initiative to help women entrepreneurs.

Project LEAP (Launching Entrepreneurial Advisory Panels) will create advisory panels for established women entrepreneurs to help them grow their businesses.

The grant enables the business school’s Small Business Development Center to join with the school’s Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship and the council to create training, structure, and outcome measurements for women business owners who want to take their businesses to the next level.

The LEAP initiative was one of nine proposals selected for funding from 100 entries for the 2001 Coleman Foundation Entrepreneurship and Education Grants that support innovative entrepreneurship programs.

“We are gratified that the Coleman Foundation has underwritten this project,” says Marian Walluks, co-chair of the Women in Business Council. “We believe that women entrepreneurs do not have the same access to expert advice as men, especially advice that can help them take their business to the next level. We think there will be great benefit to the female entrepreneur who assembles a panel of experts — men and women — to advise her on issues important to her business growth. In addition, panel members will gain useful experience in helping small businesses.”

Assistant professor Ted Baker of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship will oversee the project. Baker said that there is a great need for more research on female-led businesses and that having the LEAP program in the Weinert Center could stimulate useful research.

An initial group of about 10 entrepreneurs will enroll by fall and another class is planned for spring.

For more information, contact Marian Walluks, (608) 222-4331, or Helen Capellaro, (608) 262-9213.