Chicago’s Own Women’s Business Development Center Celebrates 40 Years

 “Be gutsy, take risks. Do what you’re passionate about. Do the research necessary, then get the help you need, and just do it.”
-Hedy M. Ratner,  founder and Co-President of the Women’s Business Development Center

Two years before the Small Business Administration started its Women Business Center initiative, Chicago natives Hedy Ratner and Carol Dougal launched the Women’s Business Development Center in 1986. The WBDC paved the way for organizations like wegg® to exist and further the work. With the WBDC as a neighbor, we are grateful to also bolster the longstanding tradition they established of empowering and fostering the best in women entrepreneurs. wegg has always known that when women entrepreneurs have access to the right support and community, they can turn bold ideas into lasting impact. The 40th anniversary of the WBDC is a prime example of this. 

Last week, Inc. published a feature of Ratner entitled, “40 Years Ago Women Couldn’t Get Business Loans Without Men. That’s When Hedy Ratner Stepped In.” Author Rachel Yoon writes,

Today, Ratner maintains that the needs have not changed, but expanded. Instead of loans from a bank, the Center now coaches women on how to get VC funding, scale their businesses, and eventually sell. But the paradigm has certainly shifted since the Center’s beginnings. “The state, the county, the city, all have goals for women and minority-owned businesses for contracting,” she says. “That’s grown enormously because the policy is good for everybody. It’s good for the small businesses in terms of the impact that it will have, and it’s good for the government entities and corporations.”

Just as wegg came to fruition through one woman’s bright idea, the WBDC was born from a similar vision: creating opportunities and opening doors for women entrepreneurs. Both women recognized the power of entrepreneurship to transform lives, communities, and economies. Their leadership reminds us that meaningful change often begins with one person willing to think differently and take action. Together, we celebrate the visionaries who paved the way and the generations of women entrepreneurs who will carry that vision forward.

From Hedy Ratner blazing a trail in women’s business development to Laurel Delaney spearheading wegg’s mission to take women-owned businesses global, their contributions have been widespread and truly inspiring.