Fran Pastore exudes a passion for women’s economic empowerment through business ownership — a mission she’s dedicated herself to the last 20 years as founder and CEO of the Women’s Business Development Council.
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Fran Pastore exudes a passion for women's economic empowerment through business ownership — a mission she's dedicated herself to the last 20 years as founder and CEO of the Women's Business Development Council.
“I think that women's economic equity is the last piece of unfinished business for women in our country,” Pastore said.
“I know from my own experience and the women that I've talked to around the world, that economic empowerment gives women a sense of freedom to believe in themselves and when you have that, there are so many benefits that cascade down to the rest of your life,” she said.
WBDC, a Stamford nonprofit that works with women statewide, has focused on helping women start, sustain and grow business through mostly free programs for entrepreneurial and financial education, one-on-one counseling from MBAs and finance experts, and by providing access to traditional and nontraditional forms of capital.
Clients span from “GEDs to Ph.D.s,” and represent all stages, sizes and types of business, “from a coffee shop to an attorney to a dentist, to an eye doctor to a marketing consulting firm to a nail salon,” Pastore said.
WBDC has served more than 18,000 clients since opening, assisting in the creation of about 1,800 businesses, the sustaining and expanding of 3,500 established businesses, and supporting 4,200 jobs. WBDC clients generated $155 million in gross revenue and $10.8 million in tax revenue to the state from 2013 to 2015, the latest figures available.
“Clearly, the Women's Business Development Council delivers,” Pastore said.
That's why she's pained by the governor's proposal to eliminate the rest of WBDC's $358,445 in state funding in his 2018 budget. WBDC has watched its state allocation dwindle from $500,000 in recent years and has closed satellite offices in Hartford and Danbury to trim costs.
WBDC also hasn't replaced some positions to help conserve its $2 million annual budget, which includes 10 employees and five part-time contract positions. It also suspended the launch of a new WBDC microloan program to help improve access to capital for women, but Pastore hopes it can be revitalized next year.
She's hopeful the General Assembly, where there's bipartisan support for job creation and small-business development, will restore funding.
Wall Street roots
Pastore, 56, started WBDC after working on Wall Street, where she was an analyst watching out for insider trading. She found the environment wasn't conducive to women's independence and was rife with sexual harassment, so she quit. Later divorced and a single mother of two girls, she sought a way to pursue her long-held passion of women's economic equity and economic self-reliance.
She learned in 1995 that Connecticut was the only state without a U.S. Small Business Administration-funded Women's Business Center (WBC). The SBA established the WBC Program in 1988 to help women overcome barriers to success by funding centers around the country to help women entrepreneurs start and grow successful businesses.
Through that program, Pastore realized she could combine her interest in women's economic empowerment and small business to help Connecticut women.
Patricia Russo was head of the Connecticut Permanent Commission on the Status of Women when she met Pastore as she was contemplating what would become WBDC. Russo helped open political doors for Pastore among Connecticut's congressional delegation, which helped Pastore get the federal funding she needed to launch WBDC in 1997.
Russo, who's now executive director of the Women's Campaign School at Yale, called Pastore fun and tenacious and said she takes a personal interest in the women WBDC helps. Russo acknowledged Pastore's passion for her work.
“You have to be passionate because the work is so hard,” Russo said. “She makes it look so easy, but I have to tell you she is relentless. She works 24/7.”
Pastore always looks for ways to improve programs and opportunities for women in Connecticut and has become a national leader in the field, Russo said.
Pastore was appointed to the National Women's Business Council in 2011, where she served three years, raising her profile and WBDC's.
“Most importantly, I think it gave WBCC the gravitas that I had always hoped that we would have and the recognition that we were doing really fine work and we were being recognized nationally for it,” Pastore said.
Because of WBDC's work in Connecticut, she was invited to assist women in Rwanda in 2010, Costa Rica in 2012, Turkey in 2015 and Ethiopia in 2016.
“The desires and the passions around business formation and economic empowerment transcend cultures,” Pastore said.
Women in those countries have inspired her and helped her appreciate WBDC's team and its impact helping women launch, maintain and grow business and positively affect their families and communities, she said.
Those two girls Pastore was raising as she launched WBDC? They're now a lawyer, 28, and social worker, 25. Pastore has been married 14 years to Steven Mueller, who runs Steven Mueller Architects in Greenwich.
Check out a video interview of Fran Pastore here.
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