Champion for women

Deb Eslinger devotes career to helping female entrepreneurs succeed

BY KRIS BEVILL

Deb Eslinger, executive director of the Center for Technology & Business, leads a popular six-month leadership course designed specifically for women in business.

PHOTO: WILL KINCAID

Deb Eslinger probably has every bump on most of the highways in North Dakota memorized. As executive director of the Center for Technology & Business in Bismarck, N.D., she spends countless hours every year traveling to communities to host training programs and provide support to entrepreneurs and would-be business owners — particularly women business owners, whom she says sometimes require just a little extra encouragement to get things going. “Sometimes they need a confidence boost, a person walking alongside of them, encouraging them and helping them get through the obstacles,” she says.

(continued on page 26)

REACH MORE THAN 110,000 READERS EACH MONTH WHEN YOU ADVERTISE WITH PRAIRIE BUSINESS AND TALKING POINTS!

Prairie Business, a monthly magazine, and Talking Points, a weekly newsletter, focus on the businesses in the Dakotas and Minnesota that drive the regional economy, including agriculture, energy, health care, construction, architecture and engineering, higher education and more.

Subscribe to the free digital edition of Prairie Business and sign up to receive Talking Points at www.prairiebizmag.com.

Also, for daily business news, go to www.prairiebizmag.com.

To adver tise: Brad Boyd 800.641.0683 Nichole Er tman 701.780.1162

(continued from page 24)

As a former business owner herself, Eslinger understands exactly the pressures of small business ownership as well as the unique challenges faced by women in business. Before joining the CTB in 2011, Eslinger operated a successful photography business in Bismarck, which she thoroughly enjoyed despite the occasional frustrations of being a woman business owner in a male-dominated field. She eventually sold the business to a partner to spend time with her young children, but the entrepreneur in her soon took over again and she began a business consulting and marketing business from her home. She also started to get active in the local entrepreneurial community and became more deeply involved in women’s business development as she became aware of their need for assistance. Her skills and passion for entrepreneurship caught the eyes of fellow female entrepreneur Kari Warberg Block, founder and CEO of earthkind, who recruited her to her current role at CTB.

“For me it’s always been about being the champion for women in business, trying to help them the best we can,” Eslinger says. “I see women do things a little bit differently. A lot of them are solopreneurs, where they don’t really have a sounding board. We get to be that for them and help coach them from Step 1 through Step 10 and celebrate every win. It’s just been so much fun.”

One of the most successful efforts undertaken by Eslinger since joining the CTB has been the Women’s Leadership Program. Now in its fourth year in Bismarck and third year in Minot, 82 women have attended the program to date. Another class of leaders will graduate from Bismarck and Minot in June. This fall, the program will launch in Fargo, funded through a $75,000 Bush Foundation Leadership Grant. The grant will also allow Eslinger’s team to host one-day sessions in smaller communities next year, including Standing Rock, Harvey and Dickinson.

Eslinger says the program was developed primarily to connect professional women with their peers. Participants also receive health and wellness training, which Eslinger believes is a critical component of women’s overall success in business. “Women do so many things for everyone else that we forget about ourselves,” she says. “We’re teaching these women how to take care of themselves first so they can be better moms, better workers, better spouses, better board members and better leaders, ultimately.”

The program also includes a fundraising component, which often surfaces as the most challenging and rewarding part of the program for attendees. Each participant receives $100 in seed money and is given four weeks to turn it into more. Eslinger says it’s not uncommon for students to feel uncomfortable with this task, but with guidance from her team, the outcome is always successful. In the last three years, more than $110,000 in community giving has been raised by program participants. “Going through that process and that challenge equips them so much more to kind of be unstoppable,” she says. “The gratitude that they feel after they’ve completed the project is so awesome and humbling.”

Heather Welle, a Realtor at Trademark Realty in Bismarck and president of the Bismarck-Mandan Young Professionals, says she signed up for the program in 2013 to enhance her leadership skills, which she achieved. She also found an inspiring business mentor in Eslinger. “She doesn’t settle,” Welle says. “She always wants to give more back. For her to constantly improve her own self says a lot to me about how much she wants to give back to others — especially to women. It’s not only because she’s a woman and had her own business. Sometimes as women we don’t always give ourselves enough credit and have higher expectations for ourselves and know that we can do it.” Eslinger, she says, makes sure women know they can succeed even when they themselves might not think it’s possible. PB

Kris Bevill Editor, Prairie Business 701-306-8561, kbevill@prairiebizmag.com