The Women’s Business Center powered by ECDI held its first annual lunch to support women entrepreneurs on Thursday Sept. 11 at the Athletic Club of Columbus. Keynote speaker Karen Hough, entrepreneur and Founder & CEO of ImprovEdge, discussed using improvisation as an engagement and learning tool for powerful presentations, and the WBC honored its members with three awards.
The event celebrated the impressive statistics the WBC has achieved since its inception in January of 2013. The WBC has:
- • Created 28 businesses
- • Helped 27 businesses to expand
- • Provided training for 483 individuals
- • Provided one-on-one counseling for 234 women
- • Created 44 jobs
- • Helped 44 businesses receive capital through grants and loans
Ohio lags behind other states in the number of women-owned businesses. The WBC serves to level that playing field by not only providing a network for women entrepreneurs to mentor one another through their shared experience, but by helping women achieve self-sufficiency.
Membership at the WBC gives women access to office space, computers, WiFi, copy and faxing capabilities, conference room space, as well as numerous networking and training resources.
As a video at the event described it, “The WBC gives a hand up to women, to families and to communities.”
During her keynote address, Hough provided valuable insights on powerful presentations to a crowd of female business owners.
Three unique introductions stressed the importance of a first impression and Hough’s first point that people assess others in about seven to 30 seconds. She discussed perception and the importance of confidence.
“We can control our confidence level more than we realize,” Hough said, describing body language and other techniques that can help boost confidence. “Practice is what makes you able to handle anything,” she added.
When it comes to the presentation, Hough recommended to keep it straightforward and simple. Present with purpose. What action should people take when the presentation is over? And the answer is not just to inform, Hough says.
The WBC also presented three awards. Sharon Gordon of Urban Trendsetters News Magazine and Media was named WBC Member Business of the year. Mayda Sanchez of Unlimited Media was honored as WBC Volunteer of the year, while Accenture was awarded as WBC Corporate Partner of the Year.
For more information, visit wbcohio.org.
