IncubateHER Announces Inaugural Cohort
Photo by Neil Richmond
Chatham University’s Center for Women Entrepreneurship is proud to announce its inaugural IncubateHER cohort for 2018. IncubateHER is a free, competitive year-long business incubation program for early-stage women entrepreneurs with product and service-based businesses in the Pittsburgh region.
The inaugural cohort consists of five high-potential women business owners including Feyisola Alabi*, founder and CEO of Omore, an online platform for trading, selling or buying new or gently worn traditional clothes; Dina Colangelo, founder and CEO of Centerpisa, intricately designed and eco-friendly centerpieces rented for special events; Jo Ana Vaz, founder and CEO of PIT Shop, a healthy snack delivery service; Mary Jayne McCullough, founder and CEO of Global Wordsmiths, a social enterprise dedicated to improving language access for immigrants and refugees in Western PA and Brittany McLaughlin, founder and CEO of ScribbleUp, an educational technology tool for early readers to learn and practice reading concepts around sounds and letters.
IncubateHER provides participants with customized, industry-specific mentors, business counseling and technical assistance through Chatham’s Women’s Business Center, a tailored growth curriculum, peer-to-peer mentoring through cohort meetups, and a year-long membership to the Center for immersive networking opportunities such as the Women Business Leaders Breakfast Series and monthly member coffee hours. Through this membership, IncubateHER participants also get free access to the Center’s Prototyping & Design Lab to use digital fabrication tools to ideate and create new products or expand their product lines. In addition, participants will receive a $1,000 grant at the successful completion of the program to help grow their businesses.
Interested mentors can sign up here.
The Center is a member of the International Business Innovation Association (InBIA). IncubateHER is coordinated by Nazli Saka, who, in addition to her degrees in law and education, holds the InBIA Business Incubation Management Certificate, the premier industry credential for the staff of incubators, accelerators, co-working spaces, small business development centers and other entrepreneurship programs.
Funding for IncubateHER is provided by the PNC Foundation with additional support from Chatham alumnae donors and members of the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship.
*Feyisola Alabi is a 2016 graduate of Chatham University with degrees in Business and Sustainability.