FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, The City of Boston, and Deloitte Announce the Release of Women Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Report
BOSTON, March 22, 2021 – Today, the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership (MACP) and the City of Boston’s Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement announced the results of their collaborative report conducted by Deloitte. The report, named “It’s Her Time: Women Entrepreneurship in Massachusetts,” focuses on understanding the entrepreneurial landscape for women across the Commonwealth. As the report notes, women are “the fastest-growing, highest-performing, and most economically underutilized subsegment of entrepreneurs.” The report offers recommendations on how the Massachusetts entrepreneurial ecosystem can support women entrepreneurs as they start and build their companies.
“Our sustained growth as a commonwealth requires everyone to have equal opportunity to succeed,” said Jeffrey Leiden, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman of MACP. “Massachusetts provides entrepreneurs with world-class research and academic institutions, networks of leaders in their fields, and a strong investment community. We are working to ensure that women have equitable access to these abundant resources so our innovation economy can thrive.”
The report found that Massachusetts has robust resources for entrepreneurs, but many times women have trouble identifying, locating, and accessing the resources they need the most. The report's recommendations include improving support for women entrepreneurs through an entrepreneurial hub that encourages collaboration and brings together resources, support organizations, and female entrepreneurs. It also suggests that support organizations could improve resource marketing and accessibility. Additionally, it calls for a focus on regional programming to help ensure access across the Commonwealth and more access to accounting, financing, and industry-specific resources and opportunities.
“The City is proud to offer women entrepreneurs targeted programming, including the Women Entrepreneurs of Boston (WEBOS) program and WEBOS Week,” said Alexandra Valdez, Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement. “Our programming brings women business owners together to share resources, opportunities, and encouragement. We are committed to working with others in the ecosystem to better align our efforts to make a more equitable environment for all entrepreneurs.”
The report includes a survey of 100+ women entrepreneurs, 10 in-depth interviews with subject matter experts, 13 in-depth interviews with women entrepreneurs, and a literature review of 30 secondary resources including academic papers, industry reports and other public available information.
"Our report illustrates that women entrepreneurs represent a tremendous opportunity for our society and economic growth, but more needs to be done to help women-owned businesses access the resources available," said Kevin McGovern, New England's Managing Partner for Deloitte LLP. " With efforts to improve support organizations and increase local programming and resources, Massachusetts will continue to be a competitive state for women entrepreneurs.”
The report was released today with a virtual event hosted by Aimee Weeden, Chief Operating Officer of MACP, as part of the City of Boston’s Women History Month programming. Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito, a longtime advocate of empowering women, opened the program with remarks about the importance of women entrepreneurs to the Massachusetts economy. The event also included a panel discussion with three prominent women entrepreneurs: Sangeeta N. Bhatia, MIT professor and biotech entrepreneur; AG Breitenstein, independent entrepreneur and investor; and Daphne Koller, Founder and CEO of Insitro. They discussed the challenges they overcame as well as the opportunities available in Massachusetts.
“While I have benefited from a strong network and supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem in greater Boston, women continue to face many barriers when founding new enterprises” said Sangeeta Bhatia M.D., Ph.D., Co-Founder Satellite Bio. “Increased collaboration and aligned resources would be tremendously helpful in ensuring that more women entrepreneurs succeed.”
“Our administration is committed to supporting the needs of all residents, and will continue to work to support the many women entrepreneurs across the Commonwealth,” said Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito. “Massachusetts is fortunate to have so many talented women in our workforce, and we look forward to helping more women access the dynamic, well-paying opportunities available across our Commonwealth.”
About MACP
The Massachusetts Competitive Partnership is a non-profit, non-partisan, 501(c)(4) public policy group comprised of chief executive officers of 16 of the Commonwealth's largest businesses. The Partnership's goals are to promote job growth and competitiveness in the Commonwealth by working in collaboration with public officials and business and civic leaders in Massachusetts. MACP’s mission is to promote job stabilization and growth across the full spectrum of business, and within all geographic regions of the Commonwealth.
About The Mayor’s Office Of Women’s Advancement
The Mayor's Office of Women's Advancement creates specific programming and opportunities that support three priority areas: economic equity, safety, and empowerment, and representation. Some of the office's most recent work includes research on paid parental leave and childcare affordability; a multi-pronged approach to closing the gender pay gaps; reducing the demand for commercial sexual exploitation; and creating specific programming for women entrepreneurs. Learn more here.
About Deloitte
Deloitte provides industry-leading audit, consulting, tax and advisory services to many of the world’s most admired brands, including nearly 90% of the Fortune 500® and more than 7,000 private companies. Our people come together for the greater good and work across the industry sectors that drive and shape today’s marketplace — delivering measurable and lasting results that help reinforce public trust in our capital markets, inspire clients to see challenges as opportunities to transform and thrive, and help lead the way toward a stronger economy and a healthier society. Deloitte is proud to be part of the largest global professional services network serving our clients in the markets that are most important to them. Building on more than 175 years of service, our network of member firms spans more than 150 countries and territories. Learn how Deloitte’s more than 330,000 people worldwide connect for impact at www.deloitte.com.
Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee (“DTTL”), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as “Deloitte Global”) does not provide services to clients. In the United States, Deloitte refers to one or more of the US member firms of DTTL, their related entities that operate using the “Deloitte” name in the United States and their respective affiliates. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting. Please see www.deloitte.com/about to learn more about our global network of member firms.
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