Women's Entrepreneurship Day (WED)

Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (WED) is an annual event held on November 19 to support and encourage women business owners around the world. The first event, held in 2014 by the United Nations, was initiated by Wendy Diamond, an American author and entrepreneur. WED events include educational seminars, discussions, networking, and awards ceremonies, with events held in nearly 150 countries. The Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Organization (WEDO) that grew out of WED helps fundraise and coordinate microloans to help women in poverty around the world start small businesses to provide for their families.

Background

Before founding WED, Diamond had a strong background in entrepreneurship. Born in Ohio in 1973, Diamond founded several different businesses, most related to social causes or animals. One of the first was Animal Fairmagazine, a pet lifestyle magazine that published its first issue in 1999.

A rescue-animal adopter, Diamond followed the magazine launch with the first of almost a dozen books, including cookbooks featuring celebrity recipes and a number about pets. She also initiated a dog fashion show called “Paws for Style” and other events to raise funds and awareness in support of shelter animals. In addition, she appeared on numerous television shows related to animals and started her own production company, Lucky Diamond Productions, to create animal-related reality shows for television.

Diamond also worked or volunteered with several social causes not related to animals, including Coalition for the Homeless in New York City and the Adelante Foundation in Honduras. The Adelante Foundation provides microloans to women living in poverty who do not have the means to provide collateral to get a traditional loan. The foundation gives out small loans to individual members of a group of women who agree to be responsible as a group for paying all the individual loans.

Loans as small as $25 can help women in these areas buy supplies or equipment to start a small business. The proceeds from the business pay back the loan and help the woman support her family. Repaid loan funds are then reinvested in another woman’s business to continue the cycle. The model used by Adelante Foundation inspired Diamond to start a larger-scale program to help women around the world. This led to the founding of WEDO and WED.

Overview

Both WED and WEDO were launched in 2013 after Diamond’s trip to Honduras. It was based on the realization that women worldwide perform sixty-six percent of all the work that gets done, but receive only ten percent of the world’s income. According to WEDO, one third of the women in the United States are living in poverty, while 70 percent of those around the world who live in the worst poverty are female.

The premise behind WED and WEDO is that owning a business is one way for women to rise above poverty and have a better life. WEDO statistics indicate that people who receive microloans to start businesses use 90 percent of the funds they raise to feed and educate their children. For many children who live in areas where free schooling is not provided, the money earned by mothers and grandmothers makes a life-long difference in the children’s quality of life by providing them with an education.

The goal of WEDO and WED is to encourage women to start their own businesses and to provide the support for that to happen. For example, prior to the 1988 Women’s Business Ownership Act (HR 5050), American women were required to have a male relative co-sign business loans. The act removed a huge barrier to women-owned businesses, but others remained. WEDO and WED include business owners, government officials, policy makers, and others with the resources, connections, and access to promote changes that make it easier for women to start and keep their own businesses.

The first international Women’s Entrepreneurship Day was held on November 19, 2014, in United Nations headquarters in New York City. The event featured a conference with multiple speakers and was complemented by events held in 144 other countries that same day. The event has been held annually since then and still involves nearly one hundred fifty countries as well as dozens of universities. The United Nations remained a co-sponsor.

Delegations from around the world visit New York to participate in the event, and WEDO sends ambassadors from the nonprofit to other parts of the world in support of the events in other countries as well. Since its inception, WED/WEDO have impacted more than five billion people around the world. Some outcomes from past events include an entrepreneurship training program for 60,000 women in Saudi Arabia, a WED-backed movement in Oman to encourage women to vote against arranged marriages, efforts to support the advancement of women by promoting female literacy in areas with little access to schooling, and thousands of microloans provided to help women start their own businesses.

WED events also include an award ceremony called the Pioneer Awards, which honors leaders and innovators who have made significant contributions to the well-being of women and the community. Recognition is given in several categories, including business, philanthropy, education, social responsibility, technology, sports, arts, and more. Past recipients have included Sarah Obama, mother of former President Barack Obama; bareMinerals cosmetics creator Leslie Blodgett; Her Highness Princess Märtha Louise of Norway; Grammy-award winning rapper Missy Elliott; influencer Hannah Stocking; anti-human trafficking advocate Mitzi Perdue; international disabled rights advocate Judith Heumann; New York Congresswoman Grace Meng; and Diamond.

In addition to celebrating an annual Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, WEDO also supports women’s entrepreneurship in other ways. Young women around the world participate in their student ambassadors’ program, bringing WED to their school campuses. Many are college age, but younger students may also participate. Another initiative is the Distinguished WEDO Fellows Accelerator, which is an international group of female entrepreneurs who are innovators changing the trajectory in their business field.

Bibliography

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“A Jewel in Our Midst: Wendy Diamond, Founder WED.” Business View Magazine, 5 Dec. 2016, businessviewmagazine.com/a-jewel-in-our-midst/. Accessed 1 May 2024.

Nathani, Komal. “How Wendy Diamond Started Women’s Entrepreneurship Day.” She the People, 19 Nov. 2016, www.shethepeople.tv/news/how-wendy-diamond-started-womens-entrepreneurship-day/. Accessed 12 Sept. 2022.

“Who is Wendy Diamond? Founder and Chief Pet Officer—Animal Fair Media, Inc.” Animal Fair, animalfair.com/about/. Accessed 12 Sept. 2022.

Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Organization. www.womenseday.org/. Accessed 1 May 2024.

Yarborough, Chuck. “Chagrin Falls’ author Wendy Diamond Finds Humanity and National Fame in Connection to Animals.” Cleveland Plain Dealer, 7 Feb. 2010, www.cleveland.com/living/2010/02/in‗a‗dogs‗world‗chagrin‗falls.html. Accessed 1 May 2024.