To help female founders, the Texas Woman’s University’s Center for Women Entrepreneurs announced the recipients of its 2019 micro-grant program, of which seven were from North Texas. According to Fortune, in 2018 startups with female founders made up only about 2.2% of total VC funding.
Here are the North Texas recipients:
Broussard Global: This Dallas-based marketing and branding firm was founded by Cary Broussard in 2010. The company also has offices in New York.
Ready Set Grow: This McKinney-based startup was founded in 2017 by Amy Choi. The company focuses on providing outdoor flower arrangements and gardening services to individuals, realtors and other businesses. It offers a flat rate per container by the season. Ready Set Grow currently operates in Collin County.
Locavore: This Fort Worth-based startup offers a shared, commercial kitchen incubator to food entrepreneurs. It was launched in 2018 and won the Fort Worth Business Plan Competition that same year.
MHerndon Enterprises: This Desoto-based business was started by Michaela Herndon and focuses on personalized consultation to help individuals discover life goals and passions.
Hello Imprint: This Frisco-based advertising- and marketing- focused company offers personalized promotional products, such as coffee mugs and pens. Hello Imprint was launched in 2018.
LJ Artisan Designs: This Argyle-based business makes hand-crafted jewelry, focused on women.
Cheeza Pleeza: This Grand Prairie-based startup delivers customers with cheese spreads and spices. The company focuses on using no fillers or artificial flavors in its products.
Recipients of the grants were awarded $5,000 each to help grow and get their business off the ground. Winners were required to woman-owned, for-profit businesses with fewer than five employees. In addition, winners will complete a small business training course through the center to receive the funding, in order to help winners develop a business plan and strategy.
The Center for Women Entrepreneurs bills itself as the state’s only university center dedicated to women’s entrepreneurship and business ownership. The center also offers access to training, funding and mentoring, among other things.
Check out the other recipients here.
