In today’s marketplace women dominate consumer choices while also increasingly leading the way in small business, reflected by the more than 11.6 million women owned businesses— which generated $1.7 trillion in sales as of 2017. With that in view, a collaboration has been established by women’s apparel and accessory company Rebecca Minkoff, IMG, and public female-focused nonprofits in New York that seeks to support women in business. They recently launched the “Female Founder Collective”, giving female business leaders a platform to support and connect with one another.
The platform has three primary goals: build awareness of Women-Owned Businesses (WOBs), support their growth and expansion, and invest in female financial viability, while leveraging women’s leadership in the economic development of communities.
“By creating a socially visible symbol for female-owned companies, we effectively shape modern consumers’ purchasing decisions,” explained Rebecca Minkoff, the creative director and co-founder of Rebecca Minkoff. “By attracting more of the millennial audience who identify with and want to actively support female entrepreneurship, we provide female founders with a sustainable market growth strategy.”
The program launches during New York Fashion Week, with Bozoma Saint John, Chief Marketing Officer of IMG’s parent company, Endeavour, moderating a panel discussion between female fashion business leaders and Rebecca Minkoff. The launch also comes with the celebratory reveal of the Female Founder Collective seal and a supporting marketing campaign collaborating with IMG’s fashion talent and properties.
