BEACON female entrepreneurship initiative launches new website at SXSW

BEACON, D.C.’s new initiative to promote female entrepreneurship in the city, launched a revamped website at South by Southwest on Sunday.

https://twitter.com/thebeacondc/status/841061151328915462

“BEACON is a community-led campaign to make Washington D.C. the most influential and supportive city for women entrepreneurs in the United States,” the new site declares, right off the top. The timing of this relaunch, just as D.C. is making it’s pitch to be considered the country’s most inclusive innovation hub, is key.

The new site also begins to make a little more clear how BEACON will actually achieve its mission. There’s a section highlighting events, and a page that refers to a grant program for female entrepreneurs coming in April (keep an eye out for that one!). But the most exciting and developed page is the directory — a page that aspires to be “D.C.’s most complete directory of women-owned businesses.”

The directory is searchable by industry and pages for each business include a little blurb about the company and links to its other online presence. It’s a cool way to get an understanding for the myriad kinds of ventures women are starting in the District every day.

Got a women-owned business of your own? Submit it to be featured in the directory here.

The new website also prominently features this video about what it’s like to be a female entrepreneur in D.C. — watch to get pumped ?