Opinion
By Karen Quintos and Kendra Scott
Austin American-Statesman
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) In honor of International Women’s Day, Karen Quintos of Dell Technologies and entrepreneur Kendra Scott lay out how we can help women owned businesses not only survive but thrive. Bottom line: “Women who lead or want to lead a business cannot exist on encouragement alone. They need access”
Austin
When we read reports of the daily influx of newcomers to Austin and take into account our city’s top rankings for work and play, it’s easy to assume our business infrastructure is optimized for entrepreneurs.
However, recent research tells a different story. Austin ranked no. 14 out of 50 cities measured on their ability to foster success for women entrepreneurs in the 2019 Dell Women Entrepreneur Cities Index.
While ranking high in areas like technology, Austin continues to rank tragically low in other key areas needed for entrepreneurs to grow their businesses. This includes cultural policies in place to support women (for which Austin ranks 43rd of 50) and access to funding (Austin ranks 40).
We find this unacceptable and worth every effort for systemic change. The modern interpretation of “empowerment” is often to encourage or inspire, when – at its most impactful – empowerment gives authority and power to another. And authority and power come through access.
Empowerment and access are two sides of the same continuum.
Empowerment can give a woman the confidence to start a business. Access to capital, technology, networks, and knowledge gives her the means to effectively scale and grow.
To transform Austin into the entrepreneurial destination it can become, the University of Texas recently announced the Kendra Scott Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute, with Dell Technologies serving as the official technology partner. It is designed to address the duality of women entrepreneurs – the need for empowerment through encouragement and the need for empowerment through access.
As of 2018, only 17 percent of venture-backed companies globally were woman-founded. As a program uniquely built to address challenges women often face, the Institute aims to significantly change this statistic for future generations by creating a pipeline of courageous, creative female leaders. Through a community of diversity, inclusivity, and empowerment, our goal is to redefine leadership and entrepreneurship through a gender-enlightened lens. With access to courses, workshops and mentorship programs, women will learn to advocate for themselves and find the space to make their impact. We will teach them not only to believe in the impossible, but how to fight for the resources they need to make it a reality.
We know firsthand that access to key resources is critical to growing a business or career. The biggest change-makers in our lives didn’t just encourage us, they helped us obtain what we needed. They opened doors and invited us to a seat at their table.
In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8, and in the spirit of the Institute, we ask you to take stock of the courageous women in your life who dream big, and ask them directly: “What do you NEED?”
And then open the door, invite them to the table, and help them get it.
Because women who lead or want to lead a business cannot exist on encouragement alone. They need access. They need our commitment to provide this access and the accountability from all of us in the community to make this happen. Given that women reinvest 90 percent of their earnings in their families and communities, this is not only the right thing to do for women; it’s the right thing to do for Austin.
Anything less is irresponsible.
Quintos is chief customer officer at Dell Technologies and Scott is founder and CEO of Kendra Scott, LLC. Jan Ryan, executive director, Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Texas, also contributed to this commentary.
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Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
