In 2014, Indiana was ranked 46th out of 50 states in women’s equality by WalletHub, a personal finanace website.
In a 2009 study from the Kaufmann Foundation, Indiana was ranked 44th nationally for entrepreneurship.
Faculty members at the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center said they thought these two less-than-favorable standings could be connected.
“Many women have great ideas, but, for whatever reason, they just don’t follow through with them,” said Mike Fritsch, NIIC entrepreneur in residence. “We want to make it more likely that women will succeed.”
In order to do this, the nonprofit resource center based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, recently announced the creation of the Women’s Economic Opportunity Center for Indiana.
“We want to be able to provide women with the training and the coaching and the resources to get them up to the place that men are,” Fritsch said.
Last week, the NIIC was awarded a $150,000 grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration to create a statewide resource for female and immigrant entrepreneurs.
“We know what we’re doing as far as helping people start businesses,” Fritsch said about the 15-year-old organization. “What we really want to do now is focus on those groups that aren’t getting the attention.”
Fritsch explained the new center, which will officially launch Oct. 1, will be a resource for women and immigrants living in 83 Indiana counties, including Monroe.
“There’s a fairly large immigrant population in Indiana, and they kind of tend to stick to their own groups and just try to do everything themselves,” he said. “We don’t really see many immigrants come in, so we’re trying to change that.”
The center will work to answer the clients’ questions on matters such as the grant application process and generating more business.
The staff will also work to provide clients with mentors, training, connections and other tools for starting a new business.
For the most part, these services will be provided free of charge, Fritsch said.
He noted, however, that some things will cost more as the clients’ needs grow.
Fritsch said NIIC will strive to reach and actively work with 1,000 clients within the center’s first year.
“We are here to help you focus on starting your business,” he said. “We want you to be more likely to say, ‘Okay, I’ll take a chance.’”
