CEI Women’s Business Center & Startup Maine collaborate on series: Barriers and Opportunities for BIPOC Entrepreneurs
Startup Maine and CEI Women’s Business Center are collaborating on a three-part virtual series focused on BIPOC entrepreneurship in Maine. Each panel event will explore the opportunities and barriers that exist for BIPOC entrepreneurs at the stages of ideation, launch and growth.
In the Ideation panel, we will explore the BIPOC entrepreneur experience of taking the seed of an idea to the first customer. Entrepreneur Tiffany Lomax will share her experience of developing and testing Memory Lane Cards, a startup that helps the elderly connect with friends and family through fill-in-the-blank greeting cards. We will also hear from Veena Dinesh, Director of Business Incubation at the University of Maine’s Foster Center for Student Innovation, and Mariella Uwimana, Business Hub Manager for The Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center, on opportunities for BIPOC entrepreneurs across the state who are just starting out. We’ll explore various challenges that BIPOC entrepreneurs face at the ideation stage, and think creatively about existing resources that may help to address these challenges. We will follow the panel with an audience Q&A.
In the Launch panel, we will explore the BIPOC entrepreneur experience of establishing a customer base and market presence — and taking the first steps of being officially “in business”. We will discuss the barriers that entrepreneurs face at the launch stage, and think creatively about existing resources that may help to address these challenges. We will follow the panel with an audience Q&A.
- Ideation Panel: Tuesday, April 13th from 12-1pm (watch the recording here!)
- Launch Panel: Tuesday, May 11th from 12-1pm
- Growth Panel: early June, details and date coming soon!
This panel is free and open to everyone.
