WEST LAFAYETTE — According to the most recent census data there are 162,000 women-owned businesses in the state of Indiana.
That’s a little under 30 percent of Indiana’s privately owned companies, according to Elaine Bedel, president of the Indiana Economic Development Corp.
In 2012 roughly 90 percent of these businesses had only one employee, the owner.
Indiana can do better, Bedel said. Part of supporting small, women-owned businesses is increasing awareness about local and state programs available to support small businesses, including the WomenIN program run out of Purdue Foundry, available grants and the Indiana Small Business Development Center.
Greater Lafayette is an example of where state and local programs have already helped women-owned businesses develop and expand.
Diana Hancock is a co-owner of Speak MODadlities, a company that develops speech and language apps for children with autism and people with severe speech disabilities.
Hancock developed the app with Purdue University professor Oliver Wendt. The business received a state matching grant through the 21st Century Research and Technology Fund. This helped move the company more quickly from the development phase into commercialization mode.
The matching grant, Hancock said, really made a difference in terms of exposure and enhancing the company’s credibility.