Many of the programs in ACE’s Inclusive Excellence Group—Moving the Needle: Advancing Women in Higher Education Leadership, the National and Regional Women’s Leadership Forums and the state-based ACE Women’s Network—are committed to the identification, development and advancement of women leaders in higher education.
Babson College in Massachusetts is now doing the same for women in business.
Babson’s Women Innovating Now Lab, or WIN Lab, aims to help women entrepreneurs create or transform successful businesses. After establishing the first WIN Lab in October 2013, Babson is set to widen the program’s reach to a second WIN Lab in Miami this spring, with plans to expand to other cities.
The Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership at Babson originally created WIN Lab to provide women with a community of like-minded individuals and a rigorous, experiential learning process for its participants. The program offers training sessions; co-working space to plan, build and expand ventures; and connections to a wide range of experts for guidance. It is unique to many entrepreneur programs due to its sector-agnostic approach to innovation that focuses on more than technology.
WIN Lab has been designated as one of the top two “specialty” programs for Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education by the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, among other awards and recognition.
Supported by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight foundation, WIN Lab Miami kicks off in March with a community event followed by the recruitment of 20 participants for the first cohort. The official launch is scheduled for this fall.
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