Innovation & Job News

Women’s Exchange of Washtenaw wins SBA champion award

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

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Women's Exchange of Washtenaw is making room on its shelf for a new award and room in its ranks for a new chapter or two.

The U.S. Small Business Administration will present the non-profit's co-founders, Carrie Hensel and Debra Power, with the "U.S. Small Business Administration’s Michigan Women in Business Champion of the Year for 2010" award later this week. That will come as the duo make preparations to grow the organization across the state in the near future.

"We think we have found something very unique and special and we want to share it," Power says.

Women's Exchange of Washtenaw was founded two years ago as a place for businesswomen to network and create new business opportunities, generate referrals and find work. It now has a database of 800 women who partake in the organization. Women's Exchange of Washtenaw is not a membership organization, which allows participants the freedom to pay as they go.

Hensel and Powers have enjoyed quite a bit of success with this model, creating an open and engaging environment for entrepreneurs without a Y chromosome. They expect to try and spread this model into the Lansing market later this year.

Women's Exchange of Washtenaw will host the Women's Exchange of Washtenaw Forum 10 on May 21 at Kensington Court, 610 Hilton Blvd in Ann Arbor. The all-day event will feature regional speakers, workshops, breakout sessions and networking activities to engage the business community and work through the common issues women business leaders face in their efforts to grow and improve their companies. The event costs $75 before May 1 and $95 after. For information, click here.

Source: Debra Power, co-founder of Women's Exchange of Washtenaw
Writer: Jon Zemke

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