Stacy’s Pita Chips Launches FoundedByHer Directory for Women Entrepreneurs

Women entrepreneurs may feel more empowered today than they were a decade ago, but many still struggle to get the funding and support they need to succeed and grow. A Columbia Business School Study 2019 found that women-led businesses are 63% less likely to receive venture capital funding. In the same year, just 2.8% of venture capital funding went to startups founded by women. In 2020, this percentage fell to 2.3%.

This year, Stacy’s Rise Project shines a spotlight on female founders by honoring her legacy – the company was started by Stacy Madison who started selling healthy sandwiches from a food cart – by launching Founded by her, an online business directory featuring women-owned businesses across the United States. Women founders can register their business for free for the opportunity to gain valuable exposure, introducing it to consumers, media and venture capitalists who may not even have known they existed. It is a new full extension of Stacy’s Rise Project, a program dedicated to helping women grow their businesses through funding, mentorship and community.

To learn more about what fueled this project, I spoke with Ciara Dilley, Frito-Lay Vice President of Marketing at Frito-Lay North America.

The repertoire is a personal dream for Dilley. When she and her colleagues met women as part of Project Rise, they realized that many had started their businesses not just because it was their passion, but because they wanted to be economically self-sufficient. “When women are empowered, the world is a better place. They give back to their communities, they educate their children, everyone does better, ”said Dilley.

At Stacy’s Pita Chips, they want women entrepreneurs to have an easier path to homeownership. “One of the things we believe in as a company is that great brands can make a difference in the world. Consumers have told us, ‘you have to do something more because everyone has to take a stand and help us make a difference’. A lot of the issues can look pretty dark, and we love to see brands lean in because they have presence and notoriety. Stacy’s Pita Crisps can be found in almost every store in America, and we’re going to use that awareness to do something right.

By launching the FoundedByHer business directory, they are making it easier than ever to support women founders. “We didn’t want to just praise people behind the back or give advice, we wanted to help their businesses thrive. The repertoire has more than 10,000 founders and it is growing every day. We’re just getting started.

The directory design is clean and elegant, which makes it easy to navigate. Users can search by category like arts, beauty, construction, social enterprise, software and others. The search results provide not only contact information but also the story behind each brand, adding a personal touch that many directories lack.

It also helps remove excuses from those who claim they have had difficulty supporting women-founded businesses in areas such as manufacturing or transportation and logistics. Those categories are here, and yes, there are foundresses in each of them.

With the holiday season just around the corner, now is a great time to add your business and / or support the Women Founders. At The Female Quotient, our mantra is: change the equation. fill gaps. We’re going to flip the script here and turn the funnel upside down. Part of the problem is that obtaining the financing is complicated. We are not going to depend on investors, we are going to finance these businesses by making purchases owned by women. Find out more, register and browse the Founded by its repertoire.