Member Highlight: WomenVenture

Roland Kamara, Membership Associate, OFN

March 31, 2026 – 

Read time: 7 minutes

March is Women’s History Month, a time to recognize women who expand opportunity, strengthen communities, and lead with vision.

This month, OFN is proud to highlight our member WomenVenture and CEO LeeAnn Rasachak. Based in St. Paul, Minnesota, WomenVenture has spent nealry 50 years helping women of all ages, cultures, races, and income levels achieve economic success through small business ownership.

As a community development financial institution (CDFI) and the only Women’s Business Center in the Twin Cities, WomenVenture provides capital, business education, advising, and advocacy designed to help women entrepreneurs build profitable, sustainable businesses.

In this member highlight, LeeAnn shares what makes WomenVenture unique, where the organization sees the greatest need, and how it works to create opportunities across Minnesota.

1. What makes WomenVenture unique, and how does that help it better serve its community?

As a CDFI and the only Women’s Business Center in the Twin Cities, we focus on women and founders who have historically faced barriers to opportunity. We understand that those barriers are not only financial. They are often structural.

We bring together business advising, peer community, flexible and affordable capital, and policy advocacy. That integrated approach helps us meet entrepreneurs where they are and continue supporting them as they grow.

What makes WomenVenture distinctive is our holistic and inclusive approach to small business support. By combining capital, education, and advocacy, we help set up entrepreneurs for long-term success.

2. What’s your “why” for working in the community development space, and how did you end up at WomenVenture?

Several years ago, my then-partner and I tried to launch a small business. Even with decades of corporate experience and M.B.A. degrees, we found that starting and running a business requires a completely different set of experiences and support. At the time, I did not know about resources like Women’s Business Centers or CDFIs.

After a year, the business failed, and we depleted our retirement funds in the process.

That experience stayed with me. I never want another entrepreneur, especially a woman entrepreneur, to go through what I did without access to support and guidance.

I first became involved with WomenVenture as a volunteer through our Board of Directors, then applied for the CEO role in 2021. It has been the most meaningful role of my career.

3. How do you describe WomenVenture and its role in the community?

WomenVenture is a nonprofit CDFI and Women’s Business Center that has invested in women entrepreneurs and small business owners for nearly 50 years. Our mission is to empower women to achieve their economic goals by building profitable and sustainable businesses that transform communities.

We pair responsible capital with business education and one-on-one advising, supporting founders who have historically faced barriers to traditional financing. But our role goes beyond financing and technical assistance alone.

We see small business support as part of the economic infrastructure communities need to thrive. We are committed to meeting clients where they are and supporting them throughout their journey, whether they are joining a class from a soccer field, a kitchen table, or the back room of a retail store.

That accessibility reflects a deeper understanding of what many women carry every day and the kind of support they need to keep moving forward.

4. In the past few years, what project or partnership do you feel has had the biggest impact on the community you serve?

One of our most significant recent areas of impact is childcare.

Minnesota is facing a growing childcare crisis. In the past three years, the state has lost more than 800 family childcare businesses, eliminating about 8,000 childcare slots in an already strained system. That affects providers, families, employers, and the broader economy.

We are working to help increase and stabilize the supply of childcare in Minnesota by providing free, industry-specific business education and personalized consulting, along with access to grants and affordable loans.

In our last fiscal year, from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, we supported 169 childcare providers. We conservatively estimate that this helped create or retain more than 1,000 childcare slots for Minnesota families.

For us, that work reflects our long-standing mission. Nearly 50 years after our founding, we remain focused on helping women participate in the workforce and build profitable, sustainable businesses.

5. What is the biggest opportunity ahead for WomenVenture, and how are you thinking about growth?

We see significant opportunity to unlock more capital for women entrepreneurs in ways that are both mission-aligned and catalytic.

Expanded corporate, philanthropic, and community partnerships, along with greater access to patient capital, are key opportunities to increase the flow of capital to women founders poised for growth.

We have set an ambitious goal to grow our impact threefold and serve 10,000 unique individuals this decade. We plan to do that through organic growth, strategic partnerships, and exploration of social enterprise development to support long-term sustainability.

We are also exploring continued expansion into high-growth areas across Minnesota and into North Dakota.

6. What is the biggest challenge or opportunity for WomenVenture in 2026? 

Small businesses across Minnesota are facing significant instability. Economic pressure, workforce shortages, and broader uncertainty are creating real strain for entrepreneurs operating on thin margins.

For many business owners, even a short-term disruption can quickly become a crisis, affecting not only the business, but also employees, families, and neighborhoods that depend on it.

In response, we are advocating alongside fellow CDFIs, chambers of commerce, philanthropic partners, and local governments for immediate support for small businesses.

At the same time, women entrepreneurs and small business owners are not asking for favors. They are asking for fair access to capital, opportunity, networks, and the spaces where decisions about the economy are made.

7. In one word or phrase, describe WomenVenture’s relationship with OFN. What made you choose that word/phrase?

“We’re in this together.”

For us, OFN membership is more than a transaction or an annual conference. It is participation in a community grounded in shared purpose and mission-aligned values.

At every OFN gathering, whether virtual or in person, there is a sense of being among people who understand the work and why it matters.

8. How do you describe OFN to people who do not know us?

A resource partner, funder, and advocate of WomenVenture.

In practice, OFN is a thought partner and trusted CDFI industry leader who strengthens our work and broadens community impact.

Fiscal year 2025 marked a major milestone: 25 years of WomenVenture as the Twin Cities’ only Women’s Business Center. Watch this short video from the WomenVenture Gala to see how its clients and their businesses continue to fuel opportunity across the community.

We thank WomenVenture for its OFN membership and for its continued work to expand opportunity for women entrepreneurs in Minnesota.

Stay connected with WomenVenture:

• LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/womenventure   
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/womenventuretwincities   
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WomenVenture

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Tags: CDFI Leadership, CDFIs, Community Development, Economic Opportunity, Member Highlight, Small Business, Women