2018 Grant Program

BEACON is a community-led
campaign to make Washington, DC
the most influential and supportive
city for women entrepreneurs in the
United States.

Check out BEACON's latest report:
Building Inclusive Ecosystems with Intentionality: A Strategy to Enhance Support for DC's Women Founders

Becoming Beacon

Our goal is to make Washington, DC a model city to demonstrate how investors, companies, mentors and government can work together to ensure women entrepreneurs have an equal opportunity to succeed.

Are you an ecosystem builder?
Apply for the BEACON Grant Program!

Click Here to Apply

Help Us Build DC's Most Complete Directory of

Women-Owned Businesses

Founder, Owner, Designer

Meaning “smile/laughter” in Swahili, Kicheko Goods is a socially conscious company that designs distinctive pieces which invest in education. Founded in 2014, Kicheko is an emerging brand made in DC. Concepts for the brand’s small batch collections are inspired by geometry, nature, and travel. Kicheko's aesthetic shares an unrefined boldness, sophisticated earthiness and playful simplicity..

Vanessa Ferragut

Greenease is a mobile app that connects consumers with restaurants, cafes and grocers that buy from local and/or sustainable farms.

Just Rock Enterprises

Just Rock offers music, dance and pe instruction via private, group and workshop experiences throughout the DMV.

Krystin Hargrove

Empowomant is a for-profit social impact organization, empowering women to live with intention. We explore 3 core areas: self, family, and career applying our 3 step method of vision, work, and follow through to support women seeking personal and professional alignment. Through collaboration, we work to empower women around the world.

Find the support for your women-owned business

Resources

Advancement Strategist

Halcyon is a creativity incubator for both social entrepreneurs and socially-conscious artists. Halcyon Incubator, our flagship program, is a competitive, 13-month fellowship program, which includes a 5-month residency, to support the most promising early-stage social entrepreneurs in the world. Incubator accepts 2 cohorts of 8 social enterprises each year and has worked more than 60 ventures.

Margaret Kamara

Young African Professionals Network (YAP)

The Young African Professionals (YAP DC) Network is the premier conveners of events and opportunities for young African diaspora professionals ages 21-40. We provide timely and relevant resources, we facilitate innovative professional development experiences, we foster inspirational networking, and we encourage impactful community building.

Amelia Friedman

DC Community Lead

The Vinetta Project DC

The Vinetta Project DC supports high growth female entrepreneurs as they take their tech businesses to scale. Since 2015, over 700 people have attended our DC events and over 150 female founders have applied to our annual $20K Pitch Competition.

Executive Director

Mentor Captial Network

The Mentor Capital Network offers 1) mentoring relationships where entrepreneurs and mentors choose each other, 2) support that doesn’t take you away from running your company, 3) detailed and constructive feedback from a dozen different points of view, 4) a network of founders and peers solving similar problems, and 5) cash and in-kind prizes for our top companies.

Events

For Women, By Women, We All Belong Here

How to Say NO: The Art of Professional Pushback

WeWork Wonder Bread Factory

In this interactive presentation, Rachel will guide you on:

○ When to professionally push-back and what to say to the client
○ How to fire a client without completely burning the bridge
○ Physical and verbal practice for confidently saying NO
○ Crafting your own email templates and word tracks

➡️ RSVP and confirm your seat: www.feministfounder.com

1 Million Cups Washington, D.C. 2018: Week 33

A weekly event for local entrepreneurs to meet and present their startups to the thriving peer network of founders in Washington, D.C. Meet the next wave up and coming business owners, and learn from the crowdsourced solutions to keep them growing. The FREE local coffee is also highly encouraged.

Hackers/Founders Washington DC August 2018

Buffalo Billiards

DC Startup Week™ will convene thousands of hackers and founders across the #DMVStartup community September 24-28, 2018. Leading up to it, Hackers & Founders Washington, D.C. will bring you monthly meetups and events to brew collisions between hackers, founders and investors. Come for the startup advice, stay for the high-fives and ultra-diverse networking with investors or fellow entrepreneurs.

Community