Grand Rapids Business Owner Kim Bode Builds Support Ecosystem for Women Entrepreneurs

After 19 years running her own communications and learning company, Kim Bode built something she could not find. She wanted real support for women business owners past the startup phase, Spectrum News reported. Bode also survived an internal embezzlement along the way.

Kim Bode is the founder and CEO of 8THIRTYFOUR, a Grand Rapids-based firm that tells the stories of companies through public relations and digital spaces. Through her own journey, she saw a gap in the support system for women entrepreneurs.

The Gap Kim Bode Saw for Women Entrepreneurs

“Women start businesses at twice the rate of men. They also leave their businesses when they are in second stage and established and most successful because they don’t have access to resources, network, a peer-to-peer community, or even the structure to know how to get out of their business so they can work on it,” Bode said.

Michigan has roughly 30 startup programs, but almost nothing for women past the startup phase. That includes building the foundation, making money and hiring. Women elsewhere get similar help, as with the WeRise Network in Ghana.

The Women’s Entrepreneurial Fellowship

So Bode built the Women’s Entrepreneurial Fellowship, a nine-month program for second-stage owners. It is now in its third cohort. This year, Kim Bode also launched the Women’s Owners Network. It is a six-month program for women she calls “solopreneurs” who are ready to grow.

The fellowship is run through the Small Business Association of Michigan. Kim Bode has been involved with the association for more than a decade and now sits on the board. SBAM CEO Brian Calley originally had the idea for the program, and Bode developed it.

“I built what I needed and then what I heard,” Bode said. “Small businesses are the only ones who understand what other small business owners are going through.”

Access to Capital Remains the Biggest Hurdle

Kim Bode says access to capital remains the biggest hurdle. She says women are asked for personal financial statements before they are given a meeting with a banker. Male business owners, she says, are out on the golf course getting handshake deals. Funding gaps like these appear elsewhere, as in a financing initiative for Afghan women entrepreneurs.

“It’s constantly navigating a system that was not designed for us and was not built for us,” Bode said.

Why Keeping Women in Business Matters

The program’s impact goes beyond individual businesses. Women-owned businesses invest more back into their communities and their employees, Bode said. But women are also carrying household and caregiving loads on top of running their companies. When they walk away, those businesses simply disappear.

“Our state, the costs are going up drastically and our economy is not keeping pace,” Bode said. “This is a solution. It is one way we can hopefully turn the tide and keep women in their business.” Money pressures reach founders at home, as in a Forbes column on the Fed rate hike.

A Community Built by Owners

The program is built by business owners, for business owners. Kim Bode says that sets it apart from other resources. “What I have heard is, ‘Thank you for building this community. Thank you for giving me a safe place to finally be vulnerable,'” Bode said. “We can’t be seen as weak because we are judged way harsher than a male business owner.”

SBAM has 30,000 members across the state. That gives the program a powerful advocacy network. Kim Bode’s goal is to build an entire ecosystem of support for women at every stage.

“I want them to know that there is help, and you’re going to be OK,” Bode said. “You will make 100 wrong turns and maybe three or four right turns. You just gotta keep pushing forward.”