2019 DIRI Impact Day

The Diana International Research Institute Impact Day is the first global convening of researchers, educators, investors, policymakers, women entrepreneurs, and other disrupters who are dedicated to advancing women's entrepreneurship. The theme for the inaugural 2019 Impact Day was Catalyzing New Models and Innovations for Financing Women Entrepreneurs where 215+ stakeholders from 14 states and 8 countries came together to collectively explore practical solutions, develop best practices in acceleration and funding, and generate needed policy solutions to leverage one of the largest economic opportunities of our time. The expected outcomes for the conference were as follows:

• A first time convening of partners in women-focused venture funds and accelerators/incubators to discuss best practices
• Ideas in motion - connecting women entrepreneurs, researchers and investors around financing for women entrepreneurs
• A report summarizing new models for financing women entrepreneurs

A new report released by Babson's Center for Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership calls for new models of funding for entrepreneurial women and documentation of the continued disparity in funding by gender.  

The 2019 report advocates a new funding direction by identifying disruptive funding models and best practices for women entrepreneurs across each of the six primary processes that drive entrepreneurial development: identifying, training, connecting and sustaining, funding, enabling public policy, and celebrating.  

The report is sponsored by the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership (CWEL) at Babson College, and was developed during the June 2019 Diana International Impact Day event hosted by Babson College.  It is designed to move beyond the idea of fitting women into the existing equity capital model, which has not been working for them.  Instead it seeks to identify new models and disruptions in ways to finance women entrepreneurs. 

It's time to create and support new models of funding for women entrepreneurs.

The Impact Day curated a global audience of 218 participants, all of whom have the potential to impact the funding process and outcomes. Participants included investors, accelerator managers, policy-makers, researchers, educators, women entrepreneurs, and other ecosystem supporters.  They provided a multi-faceted picture of the challenges women entrepreneurs face in working through conventional models of financing to acquire growth capital.

In June 7, 2019, the first Impact Day was held at Babson College in Wellesley, MA where 200+ entrepreneurship stakeholders joined us at the culmination of the annual Diana International Research Conference to collectively explore practical solutions, develop best practices in acceleration and funding, and generate needed policy solutions to leverage one of the largest economic opportunities of our time.

See the day's agenda and speaker lineup below.

Program Schedule

 
Lead Sponsor:

Event Sponsors: