SC Women Making History: Celebrating Erin Henderson Ouzts

As Women's History Month comes to a close, Abundance Capital would like to feature a very special woman leader who is close to our hearts. Erin Henderson Ouzts is President of LaunchPad Ventures LLC, and the founding member of Abundance Capital's Impact Investment Advisory Committee. In her volunteer role, she helps Abundance oversee our donor-advised impact investment in the most promising sustainable, equitable enterprises and projects in South Carolina and the Southeast.?Ms. Ouzts?also serves as the director of the Upstate Entrepreneur Ecosystem for Ten at the Top,?as?a connector and resource navigator for?entrepreneur support organizations serving business founders?in the?Upstate SC.

Ms. Ouzts is an experienced and successful entrepreneur herself, which means that she can provide valuable insights and resources to Abundance Capital. Her company, LaunchPad serves as the holding company for a variety of ventures, including real estate, consulting, new venture development, and non-profit management.?At Ten at the Top, the Upstate Entrepreneur Ecosystem initiative supports capacity building for entrepreneur support providers.?The goal is to increase the ecosystem’s capacity and?ability to help entrepreneurs be more?successful faster.?In this role,?Ms. Ouzts?connects?entrepreneur support providers with people and information to better serve their founder clients.?

We asked?Ms. Ouzts?for her thoughts about how to create a career that combines impact, leadership and business success.?

What advice would you give to women aspiring to leadership roles in business??

Advice is so personal and situation specific. Overall, I have always operated with rules to guide me: listen carefully to others; ask questions to get an understanding of what is really going on; be intentional about your actions; stay true to the goal; stay true to your morals; and check your current actions and decisions with your projected “look-back”.?

?Do you have any "favorite resources," including personal ones, that you think others can find value from?

One of my favorite sites for entrepreneurs is StartGrowUpstate.com.?The resource navigator extends this information to all founders and features over 300 programs to support their ventures, from funding to registering to be a vendor at local counties. On the personal level, I have coffee mugs with sayings like, “Become the change you wish to see in the world” and “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over it became a butterfly” that my grown kids laugh at, but the?sayings?give me the extra?boost I need, considering that I regularly create something?out of nothing that has long-delayed gratification.?

At Abundance Capital, our donors measure our place-based investments in the Southeast against the United Nations?Sustainable Development Goals metrics. These are the 17 Global Goals for building a better world at home and at large. Which of the 17 goals is most meaningful to you?

Quality Education (#4), and Decent Work and Economic Growth (#8), because these underpin the others:?quality education lays the foundation for developing solutions in the others. Decent Work and Economic Growth provide the means to pay the bills and alleviate many other personal living challenges which enables people to address the other goals.

We are inspired by her example and grateful to?Ms. Ouzts?for her commitment to using her experience and energy to help so many people build prosperous lives and communities.

Erin Henderson Ouzts is truly a South Carolina Woman Making History!

For more information about Abundance Capital, please visit our website or reach out to Mike Gatchell or Margaret Gifford.