The Power of Community

Your network Is your lifeline: why women entrepreneurs can’t afford to go it alone

Three years ago, Maya launched her boutique marketing agency believing hustle and talent would be enough. She was wrong. Today, her thriving business exists not despite her struggles with isolation and self-doubt, but because she found something more powerful than any business plan: a network of women entrepreneurs who refuse to let each other fail. (Yes it was PRECIOUS!)

If you’re a woman of colour in business, your support network isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s your unfair advantage in a system that wasn’t built for you to win.

The numbers don’t lie

Entrepreneurs with strong networks are significantly more likely to secure funding, scale successfully, and sustain their businesses long-term. Yet women of colour face systematic barriers to accessing traditional business networks. The solution isn’t to work harder, it’s to build intentional community.

What a real support network actually does

Your network isn’t just for business advice. It’s your lifeline when the deal falls through, when imposter syndrome screams that you’re not enough, when you need someone who understands why that microaggression in the investor meeting felt like a gut punch.

For women of colour navigating predominantly white, male business spaces, your network provides:

Validation you can’t buy: Mentors who’ve walked your specific path, peers who celebrate your wins without diminishing them, allies who open doors instead of just offering empty encouragement.

Tangible competitive advantages: Partnership opportunities, client referrals, skill exchanges, and access to resources that would otherwise remain locked behind gates you don’t have keys to.

Your network becomes the advantage the system never gave you.

Building your network: start strategic, not generic

Forget collecting business cards at soulless networking mixers. Meaningful networks require intentionality, authenticity, and time.

Define your destination first. What kind of entrepreneur do you want to become? What values are non-negotiable? Seek people who share your vision, not just your industry.

Look beyond traditional spaces. The strongest entrepreneurial communities often exist in WhatsApp groups, coworking spaces, niche Slack channels, and grassroots organizations built specifically for women of colour in business. Your most valuable connections might come from a Clubhouse room at midnight or a LinkedIn group you almost didn’t join.

Choose depth over breadth. Three genuine relationships with people invested in your success will always outperform a dozen superficial contacts. Show up consistently. Be vulnerable about your challenges. Care about others’ journeys as much as your own.

The reciprocity rule: give before you get

The networks that last run on reciprocity, not extraction. If you only show up when you need something, your network will ghost you. Here’s how to give value:

Share knowledge without gatekeeping. That skill you’ve mastered? That expensive lesson you learned? Someone needs it. Share freely through coffee chats, social media, or speaking engagements.

Connect your people. When you see synergy between two contacts, make the introduction. Be specific about why they should connect and what value you see in the relationship.

Show up when it’s not about you. Attend events when you don’t have an ask. Celebrate others’ wins and support them through challenges. Consistency builds trust, and trust builds everything else.

Bring others with you as you rise. Recommend peers for opportunities. Share job leads. Amplify their work. Advocate for their inclusion in rooms where you have influence.

Turning community into capital

Once you’ve built trust, leverage your network strategically without becoming transactional:

Form strategic partnerships with complementary businesses. A graphic designer partnering with a web developer. A coach collaborating with a consultant. Strategic partnerships double your service offerings and client base simultaneously.

Consult your brain trust before major decisions. Someone in your network has likely faced your exact challenge. Their wisdom can save you time, money, and catastrophic mistakes.

Access alternative funding pathways. Traditional funding systematically disadvantages women of colour, but networks open backdoors: grants, pitch competitions, investor networks supporting diverse entrepreneurs. Some of your closest connections might become investors or make crucial introductions.

Amplify each other’s voices. When you launch something, your network becomes your unpaid marketing team. This organic advocacy outperforms any paid campaign.

Solve problems collectively. Hit a roadblock? Your network becomes your strategy session, bringing diverse perspectives that reveal solutions you’d never see alone.

Create the community you wish existed

Don’t just join networks—build them. A mastermind group. A WhatsApp chat. A quarterly gathering. There’s power in convening your own people.

When you build community, prioritise inclusion across industry, experience level, and background. The most powerful networks aren’t echo chambers, they’re spaces where different perspectives expand everyone’s thinking.

Create containers where vulnerability is safe and authenticity is celebrated. The most transformative moments happen when entrepreneurs share not just wins but struggles, fears, and failures.

The ripple effect

When women of colour entrepreneurs support each other, we don’t just build individual success. We change narratives about who deserves to win. We create pathways for the next generation. We build economic power within our communities.

Your success becomes proof of what’s possible. The doors you open stay open for others. The resources you access get shared. The mistakes you make help others avoid the same traps.

This is how we change systems designed to keep us out.

Your move

Building a support network isn’t something to do when you have spare time. It’s central to your entrepreneurial survival and success.

The women who will celebrate your first sale, strategise through your toughest quarter, connect you with your breakthrough client, and remind you why you started when you want to quit—they’re out there. Your job is to find them, show up authentically, give generously, and build something powerful together.

Because when we link arms and lift each other up, there’s no limit to what we can achieve.

Ready to connect with women entrepreneurs who get it? Join the PRECIOUS Online community where we’re building the networks that create lasting success.