At COhatch The Gateway, we are committed to creating an epicenter of innovation and accessibility. Partnering locally has been a huge priority within our vision of what we want this COhatch location to look like and provide for our community. The Women’s Small Business Accelerator, or WSBA, is an accelerator working towards empowering, mentoring, and supporting women to start and grow their own businesses which is why we’re excited to welcome them into our space at The Gateway.

Sitting down with Mary McCarthy, WSBA’s Co-Founder and President, we chatted about how they became involved with COhatch and what they’re working on this year to build a better community of entrepreneurial-minded women.

Shortly after the opening of our Polaris location, The Pub, in April 2019, WSBA became acquainted with COhatch and began to use our event spaces for events, graduations, and meetings related to their entrepreneurial programming. After spending so much time amongst COhatch members and our locations, McCarthy and WSBA are making COhatch their official home at our upcoming Dublin location, as well as having a presence in our entrepreneur and startup ecosystem near The Ohio State University.

In addition to the partnership with COhatch, the Women’s Small Business Accelerator will be hard at work continuing their 3 business accelerator programs: Inspired Entrepreneur, a 6 month program in which women are creating business plans for their new or stagnant business, Power Circles, a 12 month program designed to help women make connections & network to learn how to move their businesses forward, and Mentor Match, a program that matches women going through entrepreneurial challenges with successful business women to help them work through their obstacles. In addition to these 3 core programs, they have also created 2 new programs in the midst of the pandemic. The Business Crisis Team is a program that came to be during one of the most difficult periods of business that many entrepreneurs have faced. This team has counseled roughly 108 women on access to PPP loans and helped them navigate the new normal as the world shifts. WSBA is also working on a Business Masterclass Series, a collection of videos that are going to be teaching women to overcome the hurdles of being an entrepreneur like negotiation, balancing family life, and much more.

After learning about all the awesome things that WSBA is doing in our communities, we asked what they are most excited about for the future. “We want to empower every woman we work with by looking at their business in a different way to help them take control of their business,” McCarthy said. Through these programs and building their new home at COhatch The Gateway and COhatch Dublin, they hope to work towards helping women realize they can take control of their businesses and their lives, one step at a time. We are so excited to welcome WSBA to The Gateway!

Learn More About Women Small Business Accelerator

WSBA’s new headquarters will be housed in the brand new COhatch Dublin location, opening in late July. For more information about WSBA and their mission, please visit: https://www.wsbaohio.org/

For more information on the new COhatch Dublin location, please visit: https://www.cohatch.com/locations/columbus/dublin/

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE GATEWAY

The newest Columbus location will have nearly 8,000 sq. ft. of workspace, including 21 private offices, more than 100 coworking seats and six meeting rooms. COhatch’s to-be-named Start-Up Orchestrator will work to connect development experts, impact investment partners, accelerator programs, women and minority start-ups and university resources.

LEARN MORE ABOUT COHATCH

COhatch, a new kind of shared work, social, and family space built on community, offers members the services, activities and amenities to live a fully integrated life that balances work, family, well-being, community and giving back. Founded in 2016, COhatch was created through the collaboration of a group of friends who wanted to live out their ideal lives and improve their community ̶ think Town Hall 2.0. COhatch has 10 open locations and 15 sites under construction nationwide in Columbus, Cincinnati, and Springfield, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; and St. Petersburg, West Tampa and Lakeland, Florida. Visit www.cohatch.com for more information. Follow COhatch on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Published On: April 21, 2021Categories: Industry Insights

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