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From High Potential to High Growth: Dell 2016 Index Ranks Top 25 Global Cities for Women EntrepreneursToday at the White House's Global Entrepreneurship Summit, Dell (News - Alert) announced findings of the 2016 Women Entrepreneur Cities Index (WE Cities), revealing the top 25 global cities fostering high potential women entrepreneurs (HPWE). WE Cities is the only global gender-specific index that looks at a city's ability to attract and foster growth in firms founded by women entrepreneurs. Cities, instead of countries, were identified in order to show the impact of local policies and programs in addition to national laws and customs. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160622005065/en/ 
Findings from the 2016 Dell Women Entrepreneur Cities Index (Photo: Business Wire) Findings from WE Cities will be used as a springboard for conversation and change at the seventh annual Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network Summit (DWEN)-a global gathering of 200 of the top female entrepreneurs, business leaders, media and Dell partners that is set to take place in Cape Town, South Africa, June 27-28, 2016. The theme for this year's summit is "Innovate for a Future-Ready World." "Innovation and job creation by women entrepreneurs is critical for a thriving global economy, yet our research shows some cities and countries are doing far more than others to encourage and support this important subset of the startup community," said Karen Quintos, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Dell. "Our index provides insights to move the conversation with policymakers and city leaders from awareness to action and, in turn, to empower women entrepreneurs to have the greatest economic impact on the world." "Women entrepreneurs are our Country's best bet for economic growth," said Elizabeth Gore, entrepreneur-in-residence for Dell. "It's time for women to be politically engaged to ensure the right ecosystems are in place for them to scale. If politicians and entrepreneurs partner, dynamic policies can be put in place to close the circle and enhance the process from idea to enterprise. WE Cities can be used as a diagnostic tool to help ensure lawmakers are listening to their needs." Top 25 WE Cities Ranking & Methodology Building on the past four years of Dell's research on HPWE, five important categories of city characteristics were identified: capital, technology, talent, culture and markets. These pillars were organized into two groups - operating environment and enabling environment. The overall rating has 70 indicators, and, of these, 44 have a gender-based component. Individual indicators were weighted based on four criteria: relevance, quality of underlying data, uniqueness in the index and gender component.
Index Highlights
About WE Cities Dell partnered with IHS-a leading source of insight and analytics that shape today's business landscape-to launch first-of-its-kind, global research that will measure a city's ability to attract and support high-potential women entrepreneurs. The 25 cities in the ranking were chosen from the list of 50 global cities in the Dell Future-Ready Economies (FRE) Model in order to make comparisons between the two indices, with geographic diversity utilized as key criteria in city selection. Research for WE Cities began during the 2016 DWEN Future Ready Research Symposium chaired by Dr. David Ricketts from the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard. The research symposium brought together 40 global thought leaders, women entrepreneurs, academics and media to develop insights for the model. Key takeaways from the conversations at the Symposium included:
1776 and Dell Announce Startup Federation To help entrepreneurs in cities and economies that may not provide adequate resources for scaling businesses, Dell has partnered with 1776 to launch an international startup platform, Union, aimed at enabling the next billion entrepreneurs by supporting, connecting and removing barriers for entrepreneurs regardless of their location. Accessible through the Startup Federation-a worldwide network of startup campuses and mega-hubs-or virtually for entrepreneurs in remote areas, Union will provide entrepreneurs anywhere in the world the ability to reach the people, resources and education they need to take their ideas from seed to scale. Designed by 1776's team of engineers and aided by insights from incubators, accelerators, experts and hubs around the world, the platform enables entrepreneurs to:
"Dell's WE Cities research proves that millions of entrepreneurs are hampered by conditions in their local economies and policies," said Donna Harris, co-founder and co-CEO of 1776. "Entrepreneurs should be free to live wherever they want and have access to the same incredible resources. Our Union platform brings that idea to reality." About the Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network As the visionary outcome of a true entrepreneur, Dell is committed to help power the success of entrepreneurs by developing technology solutions that enable human potential. Through the Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network, Dell supports and nurtures a community of female entrepreneurs by providing access to technology, networks and capital. Learn more here. About Dell Inc. Dell Inc. listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services that give them the power to do more. For more information, visit www.dell.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160622005065/en/ |
