Here’s how a new Northern Michigan foundation is helping change the statistics and empower female entrepreneurs.
This article first appeared in Traverse Northern Michigan. Find this story and more when you explore our magazine library. Want Traverse delivered to your door or inbox monthly? View our print subscription and digital subscription options.
Every cool small business in Northern Michigan was once just an idea—but without seed money, those brilliant ideas struggle to make it. And when it comes to funding access, there is often a disparity for women.
In the U.S., there are 13 million women-owned businesses, which account for about 38 percent of all businesses. Yet startups with all-women teams receive about two percent of venture capital funding, and the percentage of total investment in all women-led businesses dropped from four percent in 2018 to two percent in 2021 (WEF Global Gender Report 2022).
The statistics can be disheartening; they can also encourage change.
Photo by Scarlett Piedmont
Soon Hagerty emigrated to the U.S. from Vietnam when she was a young child. Her parents started their own business, selling produce from the back of a truck to grocery stores. They eventually created a wholesale company that still exists more than 40 years later.
Following in their entrepreneurial footsteps, Hagerty founded her first PR firm at age 30, and at age 35 co-founded a marketing, communications and events company with offices in North America and Europe. Here in Traverse City, Hagerty is co-owner of The Good Bowl. The restaurant gives $1 from every bowl sold to a rotating list of global, national and local charities—more than $150,000 has been donated since 2018. Her next venture: Boundless Futures Foundation.
Boundless Futures Q&A with Soon Hagerty
Carly Simpson: Based on your own experiences as a female entrepreneur, are many women having to work harder or more creatively to start and run a successful business?
Soon Hagerty: Without a doubt. I think the statistics prove that we have work to do for equality around access to capital. Our goal at the Boundless Futures Foundation is to help bridge that gap for those who qualify for our EmpowHer grant. We’ve also created an Advisory Circle that consists of female entrepreneurs to provide mentorship for our grantees as that is equally pivotal for long-term success.
CS: Tell us about some of the applications you’re receiving.
SH: We just launched in late September 2023 but have already had hundreds of applicants who have a great business idea and newly launched businesses that include an impact initiative. Some concepts include creating solutions for food deserts, thoughtful strategies to help disadvantaged groups or approaches to mitigate climate change.
CS: What inspired your giving model?
SH: I was born in Saigon, Vietnam, lived most of my life in California and am an avid traveler, so I’ve been fortunate enough to experience different communities and cultures. I know supporting local nonprofits and businesses is key to a great community, but I think when you expand your footprint, whether it’s mentally or physically, your view of people and what they are challenged with exponentially grows. It’s not an or equation, it’s an and equation of helping locally and nationally. Eventually, I’d like to make Boundless Futures Foundation global, but we’re starting with the U.S. so we can learn and build.
Have you been nurturing an idea, or do you know a woman whose business plan is ready for the next level? Submit an application: boundlessfutures.org