Keynote: WBDC founder recounts barriers women faced and the law that helped open capital

Fran Pastore, founder and CEO of the Women's Business Development Council, delivered a keynote tracing the modern women's entrepreneurship movement and the federal policies that changed access to capital.

Pastore recounted being a single, unemployed mother in the mid-1990s and the lack of local support for women entrepreneurs at the time. She said that research in the 1980s showed women were starting businesses at twice the rate of men but were hindered by limited access to capital. Pastore described the Women's Business Ownership Act of 1988 as a turning point that prompted the census to gather business ownership data, established the National Women's Business Council and created the Women's Business Center Project to provide resources in each state.

Pastore shared a concrete example she said came from testimony: a woman who needed a 16-year-old male cosigner for a commercial loan before federal reforms. Pastore linked those historical barriers to the founding of WBDC and its mission of providing training, grants and individualized coaching to women business owners in Connecticut.

She introduced client stories (including a grantee who received $18,000 in grants) and said WBDC's programs now provide free classes, no-cost appointments, and grant opportunities to help women start and expand businesses.

Pastore concluded by thanking partners, noting WBDC's national network connections and previewing a WBDC video featuring a successful grantee.