The Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (WED), and new international digital campaign and portal #ChooseWomen is a grassroots movement that empowers, celebrates, and supports women in business worldwide. When women are elevated financially their communities, states, and countries prosper, which generates a global blueprint for alleviating poverty globally. Each November, the United Nations holds a conference for Women’s Entrepreneurship Day. Business Leaders, Change Makers, Government Officials, and Civil Society attend WED to collaborate and find solutions in critical areas of entrepreneurship eco-systems, education and policy creation to empower women in business to alleviate poverty.
Over the past three years, Northern Illinois University and CAUSE have helped send a total of 12 students to this prestigious event. There is an application process for selection and the students in attendance are responsible for planning and participating in a panel discussion, open to all students on campus. This event has empowered all the women and male students that have attended, as well as the students who attend their panel discussion. The objective for WED and #ChooseWOMEN in 2017 is to strategically scale and deepen their impact globally, and we are helping make that goal a reality.