In 1986, Hedy Ratner and Carol Dougal co-founded the Women’s Business Development Center with a bold belief: when women entrepreneurs have access to capital, knowledge, and opportunity, entire communities thrive.
What began as a small but determined effort to remove barriers for women in business became one of the largest and most respected women’s business assistance organizations in the country.
Forty years later, that same mission drives us forward: expanding opportunity, strengthening businesses, and building economic equity across generations.