Springfield, MA – The Urban League of Springfield (ULS) and Babson College’s Black Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Program (BWEL) are proud to announce a new strategic partnership focused on developing the pipeline of Black women entrepreneurs in Western Massachusetts and closing the gender gap in business.
The initiative, focused on Black women who are early stage entrepreneurs and junior executives seeking to hone their entrepreneurial leadership skills, launched in the fall of 2020, empowering 40+ women through its inaugural cohort. The fully virtual, 12-week program features executive coaching, an expansive network, and monthly roundtable discussions with Babson’s world-class faculty and staff. “I am truly excited and delighted to announce this opportunity for Black women in our region,” said Henry M. Thomas, ULS’ president and CEO. “Babson’s well-deserved reputation as a leader in fostering entrepreneurship and developing human capital will provide best-in-class training for women with the intelligence, grit and ambition to develop exciting new business ideas right here in our own back yard. This partnership brings Babson’s expertise directly to Springfield and Western Mass, and the Urban League is looking forward to recruiting and developing ongoing cohorts of talented Black women who can then bring their ideas to market and grow them to scale, making all of us better-off.”
The partnership with Babson is a natural outgrowth of the Urban League’s longstanding commitment to being at the forefront of empowering the African American community to economic and social self- sufficiency. The League has a long worked collaboratively with numerous community groups, organizations and educational institutions to expand capacity and to address serious social and public policy needs.
“The mission for Babson College’s BWEL is to be a resource partner for Black women and to help eradicate the cycle of challenges that they face when starting, growing, scaling and sustaining their businesses,” said Dr. Shakenna Williams, Director of Global Initiatives for Babson’s Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership. “Western Massachusetts has a wealth of talented potential and early-stage entrepreneurs but nurturing that talent and providing tangible, real-world skills for women to bring to bear on their business ideas is often a critical missing piece that prevents worthy endeavors from getting out of the starting gate. Working with the Urban League of Springfield provides us with a key and trusted bridge to the Black community and an opportunity to empower a critical mass of new entrepreneurs in the region.”
Potential participants who are interested in the program may contact BWEL@Babson.edu. Thanks to a major grant from Mass Mutual, full and partial scholarships to the program are available on a competitive basis. The second cohort will launch spring of 2021. ■