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News Briefs

Wells Fargo Expands Resources for Women-owned Small Businesses

Wells Fargo announced resources designed to help increase the growth of women-owned small businesses. This includes a $1.5 million grant to How Women Lead aimed at disrupting the unequal venture capital system for women founders. The grant will help inspire 10,000 women to invest with venture capital for the first time. It will ultimately build a $1 billion fund. In addition, the company is sharing new data and an interactive toolkit on closing the economic gaps facing women entrepreneurs.

“Supporting women and women in business has always been a huge priority at Wells Fargo. We are underscoring our year-round commitment,” said CEO of Wells Fargo Consumer and Small Business Banking Mary Mack. “If we come together on actionable steps to close the gender inequity gap, we can accelerate the trajectory of women entrepreneurs and their contributions to the economy.”

Empowering a $1 billion venture capital fund for women-founded and led companies

Wells Fargo’s grant to How Women Lead will seed a $1 billion fund. This is the largest women-founded venture fund in the U.S. for women founders and women-led startups in the technology and health sectors. By engaging women who want to align their wealth and values with positive change, How Women Lead hopes to enlist 10,000 women to invest in other women as a means to build the fund over time.

Data shows that there is a significant gender gap in venture capital funding. According to the Center for Venture Research:

  • Only 5 percent of accredited women investors have access to invest in VC funds, even though women control 50 percent of wealth today.
  • Only 1.8 percent of VC investments go to solely women-led startups. There are no large funds focused solely on women founders.
  • Only 5 percent of general partners in VC firms are women.

“We are at a unique moment in time, an inflection point, where we have a generation of women who have risen in the ranks as corporate leaders and have wealth to invest,” said Julie Castro Abrams, founder and CEO of How Women Lead. “Investing in women-founded companies is financially savvy, creates six times more jobs for women, and results in economic growth for us all. Collectively we have the wealth to fund women founders and the expertise and influence to support those companies to success.”

The numbers regarding women entrepreneurs

Wells Fargo also collaborated with the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial CenterPenn State University and Fair Pay Workplace to launch a study looking at pay, ownership and valuation issues affecting the gender wealth gap among small business owners. Key findings included:

  • 55 percent of the early-stage women entrepreneurs surveyed do not pay themselves for the work they do for the company.
  • Women entrepreneurs were more likely to pay themselves if their companies were eight years or older.
  • One-third (34 percent) of women entrepreneur respondents do not have a three-month emergency fund for their expenses.
  • Access to capital was the number one barrier to company profitability, growth, and entrepreneur compensation.
    • 59 percent of women entrepreneur respondents said their income varies from month to month. 53 percent said they’re spending equal to or more than their income.
  • Women, particularly women entrepreneurs of color, are leading the way in fair pay practices.

Promoting gender and economic equity among women entrepreneurs

“This study shows us that women entrepreneurs have extensive knowledge about fair pay. However, the actual practice is not within their desired reach due to challenges in funding and resources,” said Nicola Corzine, executive director of the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center. “It’s clear that once we remove pervasive barriers, women entrepreneurs will organically become change agents for fair pay.”

Because of this study, a toolkit is available to small business owners to promote entrepreneurial empowerment and economic equity. In this step-by-step workbook, there are tools, resources and video content to guide business owners through what is needed to get to the place where they are paying themselves a fair wage. In addition to a pay equity checklist and an interactive workbook, included are insights and guidance from leading women entrepreneurs.

“Acknowledging the gender gaps that exist today is one of the first steps toward eradicating inequalities,” said Jenny Flores, head of Wells Fargo Small Business Growth Philanthropy. “By bringing more awareness, additional resources and key connections and conversations to the table, we can create more avenues to capital. We can create more equality and help more women reach their full potential.”

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company is a leading financial services company that has approximately $1.9 trillion in assets. It proudly serves one in three U.S. households and more than 10 percent of small businesses in the U.S. It is the leading middle-market banking provider in the U.S. Wells Fargo provides a diversified set of banking, investment and mortgage products and services. It also provides consumer and commercial finance, through four reportable operating segments. These are consumer banking and lending, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking and wealth and investment management. Wells Fargo ranked No. 37 on Fortune’s 2021 rankings of America’s largest corporations. In the communities it serves, the company focuses its social impact on building a sustainable, inclusive future for all by supporting housing affordability, small business growth, financial health and a low-carbon economy. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.

Additional information may be found at www.wellsfargo.com

Read more about pay equity and equal pay here!

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