SXSW Startups: EnrichHER
The Forrest Four-Cast: February 4, 2019
Fifty diverse startups will aim to impress a panel of judges and a live audience with their skills, creativity and innovation at SXSW Pitch Presented by Cyndx. Winners in 10 categories will be announced at the Pitch Award Ceremony at 6:30 pm Sunday, March 10, at the Hilton Austin.
A finalist in the Social and Culture category, which will pitch at 11 am Saturday, March 9, EnrichHER Funding, based in Atlanta, is fueling the growth of women-led businesses by enabling women founders to secure capital in an affordable and non-dilutive way. Similar to Kiva, they provide investors with an opportunity to lend to small businesses. EnrichHER loans range from $30,000 to $75,000 and are made to pre-screened women-led companies.
We checked in with co-founder and CEO Dr. Roshawnna Novellus to learn more.
What are your goals for EnrichHER in 2019?
We want to ramp up to funding 100 women-led businesses per month with EnrichHER Funding. Grow our online community, EnrichHER Society, to 10,000 members and have local events, EnrichHER Spark, in seven cities.
How many female-led companies do you aim to support in one year?
EnrichHER aims to support 1000 female-led companies in one year. We intend to support them through funding, training, and our supportive ecosystem.
Walk us through your process for applicants.
We help female entrepreneurs access growth capital by providing two types of small business loans. The first is a direct loan via a partnership we have with StreetShares. The second is a loan via our EnrichHER Funding crowd-funding platform. Interested female entrepreneurs fill out a screening application and we are able to match them with the best loan product based on a review of key criteria such as revenues, credit score, size of loan needed as well as other factors.
In addition to helping eligible female entrepreneurs secure loans, we also provide a range of networking, training and support services to help foster the female entrepreneur community and support women who might not yet qualify for loans and access resources to help them become eligible.
These resources ensure that EnrichHER’s relationship with each applicant is not just a financial one, but also builds and fosters an ecosystem of female entrepreneurs with resources, experiences and mentorship that are just as critical to the growth of a small business as loans.
Investors of EnrichHER get no equity. Tell us more about who is investing and why?
Equity investing typically is only suitable for high growth companies where an exit is expected. EnrichHER focuses on debt-based investment. The good thing about debt-based investing is that all businesses regardless of industry can participate as long as they have the cash flows to repay. Savvy investors who believe that receiving monthly repayments within their investment portfolio love this idea. Some investors love the idea of waiting seven years for their equity paycheck, but other investors love the comfort of knowing expected payment terms.
Tell us something about your previous experience at SXSW.
My first experience was last year where I participated in Pitch Black and I won the audience favorite award. That event was my first pitch competition. It showed me that although there is limited diversity in the startup world, we can come together to show the world that we are here and relevant.
What tech trend are you most excited about?
I’m excited about new trends for finance that don’t require the involvement of large institutions. I think that flexibility and the shared economy will open up entire new norms.
What has the startup experience taught you about life?
The startup experience has taught me that my ability for sacrifice and flexibility has a deeper capacity than I imagined. Years back I quit being a consultant because I didn’t like traveling over a week. But, for EnrichHER, I’ve travelled almost every week for an entire year to connect with ecosystems, investors and founders. This experience was priceless. I learned that absolutes such as this one don’t really hold in the startup experience.
What’s one piece of advice you wish you’d had that you’d give to others wanting to join the startup journey?
Advice is not the blueprint for success. Every story is different and trusting your own instinct and navigation is the most important.
Look for more interviews with other SXSW Pitch finalists in this space between now and March.
Click here to see all 50 finalists for SXSW Pitch 2019, along with the links to their interviews on Medium.
Also, if you are an entrepreneur, check out all the cool panels and presentations in the Entrepreneurship and Startups Track, which runs March 8–12 at SXSW.
Hugh Forrest serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW, the world’s most unique gathering of creative professionals. He also tries to write at least four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts often cover tech-related trends; other times they focus on books, pop culture, sports and other current events.
