At adidas, we believe that through sport we have the power to change lives. This includes creating opportunity and visibility for women in the sports industry. Together with iFundWomen, we’re celebrating International Women’s Day by supporting emergent women founders who are creating change in the sports industry by providing them the tools for success.
The partnership with iFundWomen creates spaces and visibility for new ideas in our industry.
iFundWomen provides early-stage entrepreneurs with access to capital through crowdfunding and grants, expert coaching, and a large community of women business owners—a vital network that accelerates knowledge and ignites action.
The platform was created to address inequality that women founders face when it comes to access to capital, resources, and support. Together, adidas and iFundWomen aim to help change these imbalances. The partnership creates space and visibility for new ideas in our industry. This is also an opportunity for our entire community to become a part of the change, because the platform is an open invitation to fund the ideas and organizations they believe in. We kicked off the partnership by helping to launch nine campaigns led by outstanding women who are reimagining sport. See the campaigns and become a supporter at ifundwomen.com/adidas.
To ensure the success of these emergent entrepreneurs, adidas solidified our commitment to support these women by providing funding to all nine campaigns. Meet the women behind these businesses and organizations:
Alex Taylor is a New York City-based entrepreneur who founded Hoop York City, an inclusive basketball community seeking to provide women with safe spaces to play and experience the game of basketball in a supportive and collaborative environment. Learn more and fund her campaign here.
Marisa Hamamoto founded Infinite Flow, a nonprofit and professional dance company composed of dancers with and without disabilities, using dance to inspire inclusion, innovation, and infinite possibilities. Learn more and fund her campaign here.
Susan Sullivan is a lifelong athlete and founder of the Women Sports Film Festival, a San Francisco-based film festival celebrating the power of the female athlete through documentary filmmaking. Learn more and fund her campaign here.
Kelly Bessis founded Dada, a boxing and fitness group for women in Paris. She aims to promote wellness by providing space and access to her community. Kelly believes that every woman should have access to sports but also have the perfect product to recover, which she creates and will soon present to her community. Learn more and fund her campaign here.
Jasmina Srna is a former professional football player and co-founder of Safe-Hub in Berlin, a social enterprise that realizes young people's potential through combining sports and holistic education. Learn more and fund her campaign here.
Francesca Brown is the CEO & Founder of Goals4Girls in London, a program which combines football and education to raise aspirations, provide long term intensive support and health to young women and girls in sport. Learn more and fund her campaign here.
Mariana Pajón is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and BMX World Champion who founded Pedaleando por un Sueño (Spanish for ‘Riding For A Dream’) in Medellín, Colombia, which empowers young children to gain life skills through sports. Learn more and back her campaign here.
Brittany Edwards and Khiana Lowe founded Incorp[HER]ated in New York City to create inclusive spaces in creative industries for diverse voices to be heard, valued, and connected. Learn more and back her campaign here.
Hélène Guillaume is the founder and CEO of WILD.AI, a fitness app designed specifically for women that uses data and physiology to help athletes reach their fitness potential. Learn more and back her campaign here.
Our partnership with iFundWomen extends beyond the platform. To launch the initiative, we hosted a kick-off in New York City where these incredible women gathered for an intensive two-day workshop. Programming focused on identifying challenges, defining goals, and creating crowdfunding campaigns on the iFundWomen platform. Panel discussions with Billie Jean King, Robin Arzón, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, adidas leadership and more provided insight and inspiration. Each entrepreneur was equipped with the tools to raise capital and take their ideas to the next level, and each left the workshop with a newly-launched campaign page and initial investment on the platform.
During Women's History Month, we'll be selecting additional campaigns to feature and fund.
We have committed to support these women with funding and continued coaching, helping to ensure their success. But we’re not stopping there: During Women’s History Month, we’ll be selecting additional campaigns to feature and fund, jump-starting the next wave of women founders in our industry. If you’re an entrepreneur in the making, we invite you to create your own campaign on iFundWomen by March 31st, 2020. Click here to get started.