Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, WEI Atlanta Celebrate Entrepreneurship with Opening of WeWork Terminus
Photo courtesy of WEI Atlanta, Facebook
Link to the original article on Walker’s Legacy
July 13, 2018
WeWork was joined by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and the City of Atlanta’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative (WEI) 2018 cohort to celebrate the grand opening of its fourth Atlanta location with #LiveFromTerminus.
The Terminus location opened June 1 and this week’s the ribbon cutting ceremony was largely a celebration of Atlanta’s ever-growing entrepreneurship ecosystem.
“We know that Atlanta leads the nation in the number of women-owned businesses,” said Theia Washington Smith, WEI ’s founding Executive Director and Power 25 Honoree in a live interview with Dana Barrett.
“We also want to be the city that helps these businesses stay in business and helps them become job creators.”
WEI was launched in 2014 under Mayor Kasim Reed to improve Atlanta’s economy and provide women entrepreneurs with the connections and resources needed to grow and sustain their businesses. The 15-month program provides 15 entrepreneurs with access to mentors, office and event space, as well as social and financial capital. Smith says this support from the city has helped more women entrepreneurs establish important connections beyond “their local circle.”
“This helps [to] really expand their outreach and their ability to expand their business capacity,” she said.
This is exactly what Bobby Condon, WeWork’s Southeastern General Manager, says draws the coworking company to various partnerships (such as our upcoming Mimosas and Movemakers Networking Receptions) “where we can help grow entrepreneurs and accelerate that growth and give them a platform– not just locally but globally– to grow. That’s an easy thing for us to get involved in.”
Similarly, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms hopes to continue to support WEI and other initiatives to encourage entrepreneurship communities as the new norm for business.
“It’s about doing things differently. When we think about how businesses have traditionally been successful, we know that the model has been completely shattered. Being here today really represents what the new normal is in terms of doing business and growing your business.”
