The Women’s Entrepreneurial Fellowship is a nine-month intensive, collaborative experience designed specifically for established women-owned businesses in Michigan.
The early years of business are intense, but they’re also linear, marked by survival, early wins, and constant forward motion. What comes after is harder to name and even harder to navigate.
The SBAM Foundation fellowship is for women past the startup phase and inside the realities of long-term leadership. They manage teams, drive revenue, and make decisions with consequences reaching beyond the bottom line. The work has grown more complex, but the support available hasn’t kept pace.
Each cohort is intentionally small. You’ll spend our time together in conversation with women who understand what it means to carry a company through growth, crisis, and transition. The Fellowship integrates the emotional with the practical, recognizing that sustainable business growth cannot be separated from personal development and authentic leadership.
Along the way, you’ll be supported by Kim Bode and a roster of instructors, coaches, and mentors, all experienced business owners who will offer perspective, accountability, and honest feedback.
This is about building what you want next with peers who understand where you are and those who have been there before.
This fellowship was created by women who’ve scaled businesses and know what it’s like to grow while also managing the day-to-day.
The Small Business Association of Michigan has created a space where walls come down, challenges become shared problem-solving, and wins become everyone’s inspiration.
Over the course of nine months, you’ll take part in workshops, coaching and online learning built around the realities of running a growing business. Each aspect of the program focuses on the challenges you navigate—financial decisions, team dynamics, long-term planning while leaving space to ask the hard questions. Between sessions, you’ll meet one-on-one with an experienced mentor who helps you apply the work directly to your business.
Some of the most useful conversations won’t happen on the agenda. They’ll happen over coffee, between sessions, or long after the day wraps up. The women in this program become collaborators, sounding boards, and trusted contacts. The relationships built here often last well beyond the program and grow into partnerships, referrals, or the support you didn’t realize you were missing.
Each month includes a full-day workshop focused on one core area—finance, people, operations, or growth. You’ll also meet one-on-one with your mentor to work through whatever’s current in your business. Between sessions, you’ll stay connected to the cohort through our online platform and informal check-ins that keep the conversation going between meetings.
Over the course of nine months, you’ll take part in workshops, coaching, and online learning built around the realities of running a growing business. Each aspect of the program focuses on the challenges you navigate—financial decisions, team dynamics, long-term planning, while leaving space to ask the hard questions. Between sessions, you’ll meet one-on-one with a mentor who helps you apply the work directly to your business.
Some of the most useful conversations won’t happen on the agenda. They’ll happen over coffee, between sessions, or long after the day wraps up. The women in this program become collaborators, sounding boards, and trusted contacts. The relationships built here often last well beyond the program and grow into partnerships, referrals, or the support you didn’t realize you were missing.
Each month includes a half-day session focused on one core area—finance, people, operations, or growth. You’ll also meet one-on-one with your mentor to work through whatever’s current in your business. Between sessions, you’ll stay connected to the cohort through our online platform and informal check-ins that keep the conversation going between meetings.
Whether you have questions about the fellowship or want to learn more about getting involved, we’re here to help.
