Rent the Runway Foundation and UBS recently announced the second year of Project Entrepreneur, a venture competition and educational program designed to provide women entrepreneurs nationwide with the tools to build high-growth, high-impact businesses.
«We’re thrilled to continue our partnership with UBS to give women with big dreams the tools they need to create high-growth companies,» said Jennifer Hyman, CEO and Co-founder of Rent the Runway. «We were so inspired by last year’s Project Entrepreneur participants and the incredible momentum the three winning companies have experienced since completing the accelerator program. We can’t wait to give more incredible women-founded companies the resources they need to scale and achieve high impact.»
Project Entrepreneur’s venture competition is open to women entrepreneurs who intend to build high-growth businesses that are in the prototype or beta stages, or that may have their first paying customers. The top 200 applicants in the competition will be invited to attend the two-day PE Weekend Intensive in New York City on April 7th and 8th, where they will receive targeted support for their companies. The weekend will culminate in a live pitch competition where 12 finalists present to a judging panel of successful entrepreneurs and investors. Three winning teams will receive a cash prize of $10,000 each and a spot in a five-week accelerator program hosted at Rent the Runway’s New York office.
«Entrepreneurs are the driving force behind job creation and economic growth in this country,» said Lori Feinsilver, Head of Community Affairs, UBS Americas. «And yet women remain underrepresented in the founder landscape. Our goal this year is to continue leveling the playing field for all innovators so that everyone has the opportunity to realize the impact of their work.»
In select markets, Project Entrepreneur will also offer free educational summits at which attendees will be able to workshop their business ideas with successful, entrepreneurial women and hear from Rent the Runway co-founders, Jennifer Hyman and Jenny Fleiss, Melissa Ben-Ishay of Baked by Melissa, Rachel Sklar of TheLi.st, and Shan-Lyn Ma of Zola, among many other leaders and experts.
Registration for these summits will be available at projectentrepreneur.org. Summits will take place as follows:
- Friday, October 21, 2016: New York City
- Wednesday, November 9, 2016: Los Angeles