Visa brought its workshop for women entrepreneurs to DC

Visa announced the expansion of its workshop for women entrepreneurs to D.C. last week.

She’s Next, Empowered by Visa is a program that hosts workshops for women entrepreneurs and business owners to learn how to fund, run and grow their small businesses. The one-day event took place on Sept. 24 and attracted more than 400 attendees, according to Visa. This program also hosts workshops in New York, Atlanta, and Cape Town, South Africa, with plans to expand to more major cities.

“Running a business requires a lot of work, investment and dedication,” said Suzan Kereere, global head of merchant sales and acquiring at Visa, in a statement. “As we scale She’s Next across the globe, we are learning more from women small business owners about innovative ways we can empower them through our network.”

Visa reported that the rate of new women entrepreneurs has increased by 15.4% in the last three years, but they are still struggling to secure capital and resources compared to male business owners.

Through She’s Next, women can learn from small business industry experts and network with others facing the same struggles. The initiative launched in January with Visa’s public commitment to host global pop-up events for women entrepreneurs, and conduct and share research on different markets and how their women entrepreneurs thrive.

At the inaugural D.C. event, Visa also unveiled its new financial literacy program, Practical Business Skills, which was created to help small businesses scale with a variety of resources including 47 online lessons accompanies by videos and infographics.

Here’s some key findings on a survey Visa shared that analyzed D.C.-based women entrepreneurs:

• 36% said having financial independence drives them
• 89% said they have encountered difficulty securing capital to launch their ventures
• 86% said they have diversity and inclusion policies in place at their small businesses to attract and attain talent