The Midwest Women Entrepreneurs Collective (MWEC) celebrated its launch Wednesday night at the Carson Wealth building in Omaha. The at-capacity event initiated the nonprofit’s mission of assisting women entrepreneurs. Attendees had the chance to network, heard from a keynote speaker and received guidance on how to utilize the organization’s online resources.  

According to the 2024 Small Business Profile of the U.S. Business Administration Office of Advocacy, more than 65,000 businesses in Nebraska are owned by women. 

MWEC is a newly formed 501(c)(3) nonprofit seeking to support, connect and empower women entrepreneurs in the Midwest. The collective plans to provide members educational resources in areas like financial literacy and technology tools. They also intend to open the door for investment and mentorship meetups, and spotlight woman-owned businesses through social media channels. Membership is free. 

The founder and leading force behind MWEC is Pamela Finn. While efforts are primarily based in Nebraska and Iowa, Finn said MWEC’s online platform and access to virtual curriculum enable the organization to reach women all over the region. 

“I was on an entrepreneurial journey for 30 years and I always felt like I was doing it myself — as most women do,” said Finn. “We end up being siloed and having to figure things out on our own.”

“My motto is entrepreneurship is not a solo journey. It is much better if you’re with a group — with a community.”

The initial spark for MWEC came after Finn got in contact with Wendy Diamond and became an ambassador for Diamond’s global Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Organization (WEDO). Finn collaborated with Nebraska ecosystem members, including Alexi Wellman and Nebraska Startup Academy Director of Entrepreneurship Alyssa Cave, to get Governor Jim Pillen to proclaim November 19 as Women Entrepreneurship Day in the state. Through their success, Finn said they saw a need for a group to organize opportunities for the benefit of women entrepreneurs. 

MWEC has partnered with Nebraska Startup Academy and WEDO to consolidate resources and educational tools. Both partnerships give MWEC members access to a curriculum for entrepreneurs, including an exclusive 8-week AI course offered by WEDO. Nebraska Startup Academy provides a starting platform for MWEC members to begin networking and sharing insights. 

At the event Wednesday night, women in attendance nodded their heads to shared experiences of facing setbacks, dealing with obstacles to financial backing, feeling more isolated than their male counterparts and managing businesses on top of raising families. 

Attendees like Nancy Williams, managing partner at Block 27 Consulting, said she learned about the meetup simply through LinkedIn. Registering to be a member of the collective, Williams said she looks forward to networking more.

“If you have an idea and you really want to see it come to fruition, entrepreneurs are the people that will go at it and go at it and go at it and try to figure out how to make it,” said Williams. “They either fulfill the thing that they want to see, or something greater, and if it doesn’t turn out, they learn from it and put it into something else.”

In the long term, Finn envisions an enduring, dependable community springing up from MWEC. In the short term, Finn said she wants to prioritize spreading awareness and getting people signed up.

Learn more about the collective and how to become a member on the nonprofit’s website.