Woodforest National Bank Launches First Virtual Woodforest Foundry with LiftFund Dallas/Fort Worth Women's Business Center

THE WOODLANDS, Texas, December 2, 2020 / Woodforest National Bank® teamed up with LiftFund Dallas/Fort Worth Women's Business Center to launch its first virtual/online Woodforest Foundry^SM.

The Woodforest Foundry is an award-winning program and recipient of the Consumer Bankers Association's 2019 Joe Belew Award, for the most innovative and impactful small business initiative. The Woodforest Foundry is facilitated by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs, acting as mentors to activate local entrepreneurial ecosystems, which revitalizes underserved communities and helps grow businesses. With the Woodforest Foundry, entrepreneurs find a community of mentors and trusted guidance from peers, Woodforest bankers and community partners.

Doug Schaeffer, Executive Vice President and CRA Executive Director at Woodforest, commented, "Thank you LiftFund Dallas/Fort Worth Women's Business Center for working with us to launch the Woodforest Foundry for the first time, 100-percent online. Because supporting entrepreneurship and small businesses is critical, especially now, our team quickly adapted the Woodforest Foundry program into a virtual format which is establishing a network of peers across Woodforest's footprint despite the COVID-19 pandemic."

Tarsha Hearns, Director of the LiftFund Dallas/Ft. Worth Women's Business Center added, "Teaming up with Woodforest National Bank to launch the Woodforest Foundry (virtual edition) empowered entrepreneurs to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams and helped us expand our reach. This joint effort strengthened our mission to support business owners, especially women and minorities, through business education and mentoring."

The Woodforest Foundry starts with open community events called Entrepreneurship4All^SM that demystify entrepreneurship through candid conversations with successful entrepreneurs from the community. Next, aspiring entrepreneurs complete a series of educational ideation workshops called Ideas 2 Action. Lastly, entrepreneurs test and validate their ideas in a cohort of their peers, successful small business owners, and other professionals who provide mentorship and trusted guidance. Twelve women graduated from this first virtual cohort representing industries such as fashion, accounting, home manufacturing, trucking, and retail.

For more information about the Woodforest Foundry, please contact Doug Schaeffer, Executive Vice President and CRA Executive Director at dschaeffer@woodforest.com or Krystian Reyes, Community Development Relationship Officer, East Texas at kreyes@woodforest.com.