Lani Basa (left) connects with entrepreneurs as she leads a Business Women’s Circle meeting. Photo: Chris Emeott
Organizations help business owners find guidance, accountability and community.
For many an entrepreneurial woman trying to get her business off the ground or a female executive looking to improve her leadership skills, the Business Women’s Circle (BWC) has provided a welcoming space to exchange ideas and share experiences, celebrate successes and sympathize with setbacks. It’s a place many women have found much more than they ever expected.
“We have a great women business community here,” Lani Basa says. “We talk about business, leadership and life.” Basa is the co-founder and owner of BWC. After a long career guiding professional and strategic development for Marshall Field’s and Target, she launched BWC in 2009 with a mission to help support women in business with revenues under $1 million. Members in groups of 10–12 meet each month in curated circles that allow them to discuss their goals and challenges as well as take advantage of learning opportunities.
Basa personally curates the circles, sitting down with new members to find them a group that will meet their needs (with no competing businesses sharing a circle). Circle meetings are held once a month (except July and December) and last three hours. Each meeting’s agenda includes time for reconnection, accountability and problem solving as well as a learning opportunity chosen by the circle’s members.
Melissa Murphy has already felt the support of her circle as she builds her artificial intelligence enablement business, Itasca Innovation. “I’m spending a lot of time networking with people who do similar things from me, and different, so I can learn. My network is invaluable to me,” the Excelsior resident says.
That’s exactly what Basa loves to see happening in each of the 20 circles that currently operate across the BWC. Though the BWC isn’t primarily a networking group, Basa acknowledges that networking naturally happens while emphasizing that the groups are much more than just a source for new Rolodex entries. “I see lifelong friendships being formed,” she says. “It’s fascinating to see what happens.”
The BWC is the organization’s for-profit arm. The Circle Community (TCC) is its nonprofit division. Basa launched the sister organization in May 2024 out of a desire to do more. TCC offers scholarships to offset the cost of $1,800 annual membership to the BWC as well as microgrants to its member businesses.
“Women now more than ever need access to funding,” says Rachel Vassar, executive director of TCC.
In their first few grant cycles, TCC has been able to provide several scholarships to open BWC doors to members that otherwise would not have been able to join. It has also supported its member businesses with grants for things like equipment to optimize food production and efficiency and website upgrades to enhance and improve the online sales process. Vassar says they are just getting started. “I would love to be able to give larger grants,” she says. “I would love to be able to give a grant to every applicant.”
The giving doesn’t just feel good, but it also has a ripple effect, Vassar says. She says according to WomenVenture’s Legislative Report of 2022, “Female small business owners reinvest up to 90 percent of their income back into their communities and local economies.”
“Strong communities are built with strong women,” Basa says.
Business Women’s Circle
Instagram: @thebwcorg
The Circle Community
Instagram: @circlecommunity
