Hosted by: California Women’s Business Centers (CA WBC) Network
Date: Wednesday, May 13, 2026, 9:00am to 3:30pm (Opening Reception evening before)
Location: Tsakopoulos Library Galleria, Sacramento, CA

The California Women’s Economic Summit convenes women entrepreneurs, small business support organizations, policymakers, funders, and educators to spotlight how small business ownership — especially women-owned — and women-led businesses are central to women’s economic health, wealth-building, workforce participation, and community stability across California. This one-day statewide gathering elevates data, lived experience, and policy solutions that align entrepreneurship, workforce systems, and public investment to strengthen California’s economy through women-led growth.

The Summit is designed as a platform — not just a conference — to position women’s entrepreneurship as economic infrastructure and ensure its impact is politically defensible, fundable, and impossible to ignore.

Why It Matters

• 40% of California businesses are women-owned, generating more than $580B/year
• Women-owned businesses are growing 2x as fast as male-owned firms nationwide.
• Small business ownership is a key pathway to women’s wealth-building and long-term economic mobility, especially women of color, immigrant entrepreneurs, & rural founders.
• Women-owned and women-led small businesses help close critical gaps in:
  • Childcare supply
  • Workforce shortages
  • Small business continuity
  • Local economic stability

Who Should Attend

• Women entrepreneurs and small business owners
• Women’s Business Centers (Directors, Counselors, Advisors)
• Mission-aligned partners (SBDCs, SCORE, chambers, CDFIs, CBOs)
• State and federal legislators and agency leaders
• Philanthropic and corporate funders
• Educators and workforce development partners
• Economic and community development leaders