SOLD OUT – The Connecticut Celebrates Women Entrepreneurs Conference is sold out. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.
Connecticut’s first state-wide conference celebrating and supporting women entrepreneurs arrives Friday, September 20, 2013 at 8:30 a.m. at UConn’s Stamford campus. The event provides women business owners with an opportunity to network, showcase and expose their ventures to a state-wide audience, participate in a variety of educational and business building workshops, as well as meet, share ideas, and network with other women entrepreneurs.
This event is being presented by the UConn School of Business. Sponsors include Webster Bank as the Platinum Sponsor, TD Bank as a Gold Sponsor, and First County Bank as a Silver Sponsor. Bronze Sponsors include: People’s United Bank, Northwestern Mutual/The Bender Financial Group, Wells Fargo Advisors, Logicbroker, and LLBH Private Wealth Management of Westport, Connecticut. Hearst Media Services is the exclusive media sponsor.
Helping to greet attendees at this event will be Mary Holz-Clause, UConn’s vice president of economic development. Holz-Clause, whose office hosts the CT Small Business Development Center and administers several incubator programs to help entrepreneurs, states, “Women entrepreneurs often face unique challenges in growing their business. This conference will provide a forum for discussion, support, and identifying resources for helping women-owned business to thrive in Connecticut.”
This event begins in the morning with registration and continental breakfast and runs through an optional afternoon luncheon. Most of the activities are free and there is also no charge to register. Attendees can rent an exhibit table to market and sell their products and services during the event for $30. There is a cost for the keynote luncheon which is $50 per guest.
Says event co-founder Valarie Gelb, CEO and founder of TheBarnYardGroup, “Women entrepreneurs are vitally important to the economy in the State of Connecticut and this gathering of successful women gives us an opportunity to network and to celebrate our success.”
Representatives from the State of Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development as well as other organizations such as Connecticut Innovations and the Small Business Development Center will also be available to help attendees leverage available resources from the state. In addition, attendees will be able to attend free educational workshops on a variety of relevant topics that range from getting funding for your business, leveraging digital media, and accessing available resources from the State of Connecticut.
Janis Collins, startup company advisor at the Stamford Innovation Center, will be leading an event workshop on business/entrepreneur resources available from the State of Connecticut. “It is a great time to be a woman entrepreneur in the State of Connecticut. Not only have we committed the resources to help new ventures get off the ground faster—and more successfully—we have designed support programs to meet the unique needs of women entrepreneurs. Representatives from some of these resources will be attending the event to provide information about these programs,” she says.
The conference will conclude with an afternoon luncheon featuring keynote speaker Cindi Bigelow, president and CEO of Bigelow Tea based in Fairfield, Connecticut, the #1 special tea company in the United States. Cindi will speak on leadership and motivation: “Leadership, what does that mean and how do we work on being the best leaders we can be? That is a question that must be a part of our daily thought process because only with strong and dynamic leadership can we expect to achieve success in our businesses. I will share with you my key areas of focus for getting my most motivated and effective teams all working together to drive the business forward,” shares Bigelow.
Event Details
All Connecticut women business owners and entrepreneurs from early stage to high-growth companies are welcome to attend.* Registration is free; just click uconn.biz/2013women to sign up.
Connecticut Celebrates Women Entrepreneurs
Friday, September 20, 2013
8:30am – 2:00pm
UConn Stamford Campus
Stamford, Connecticut
Register here >>
Join or follow the Twitter conversation: #CTCelebratesWomen
For more information about this event, contact Brian Brady, director of the Stamford Learning Accelerator, UConn School of Business at brian.brady@business.uconn.edu; Tim Dowding, associate director of the International Business Accelerator and professor, UConn School of Business, at tim.dowding@business.uconn.edu; or Valarie Gelb, CEO, TheBarnYardGroup at vgelb@thebarnyardgroup.com.
*Please note: While the Connecticut Celebrates Women Entrepreneurs one-day conference on September 20th is a celebration of women entrepreneurs, men are welcome and encouraged to attend.