HERImpact DC is hosting its Social Enterprise Pitch Competition on March 16

Fourteen women social entrepreneurs are gearing up to pitch at the  HERImpact DC Social Enterprise Pitch Competition.

Ford Motor Company Fund (Ford Fund) and 1863 Ventures are putting on the event that’ll take place at Georgetown University at 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 16. The two organizations teamed up to launch this joint initiative after a report from BEACON, a D.C.-based women founders initiative, showed that the District is one of the 10 fastest growing states for women-owned businesses in the U.S, Technical.ly DC previously reported.

The women social entrepreneurs will compete for a chance to win $50,000 in prizes.

Join in the @HERImpactDC Pitch Competition Celebration March 16. Let's grow and #accelerate together. https://t.co/RMYjgAy32x#DMVStartup #SmallBiz #NewMajority #Business #SmallBizDC pic.twitter.com/kvuPD5WVQs

— 1863™️ Ventures (@1863ventures) February 27, 2019

More than 347 social enterprises applied to participate in the competition. These 14 were selected:

• Dale Pfeifer from Goodworld
  
• Jay Newton-Small from MemoryWell
• Hua C. Wang from SmartBridge Health
• Ashley King-Bischof from Annona
• Danya Sherman from KnoNap
• Anika Hobbs from Nubian Hueman
• Fonta Gilliam from Sou Sou
• Stacey Price from Shop Made in DC
• Arion Long from Femly
• Lisi Whitworth from Eventida, Inc.
• Lina Zdruli from dafero
• Leslie Heyer from Cycle Technologies
• Julia Westfall from Hera Hub DC
• Janice McRae from Nexus 8 International, LLC

HERImpact DC launched in November 2018 with an entrepreneurship summit. Finalists were selected based on their purpose to solve a real community problem, have a business model that will ultimately be sustainable and focus on a product or service people will pay for, a press release states. Since being selected, HERImpact DC has offered the finalists intensive coaching, mentoring and training while they prepare for the competition.