CALGARY — Hundreds of female entrepreneurs gathered Thursday at a summit dedicated to supporting and empowering each other.

Every Nov. 19, Women’s Entrepreneurship Day is celebrated around the globe in partnership with the Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Organization (WEDO), the world’s largest grassroots movement dedicated to celebrating, supporting and empowering women in business worldwide.

The purpose of the summit, held at Mount Royal University, was recognizing the impact women have on the economy, in addition to recognizing the challenges women in business face.

It featured prominent speakers, business leaders, and changemakers, offering attendees a message not heard too often in the media whenever the subject of doing business in Alberta is mentioned these days.

They offered hope.

“We want to empower, celebrate and support women entrepreneurs here locally in Alberta,” said Milena Radakovic, Canadian ambassador of WEDO. “We want to create a network of changemakers, entrepreneurs and innovators to ignite startups so we can really boost the economy in Alberta.”

The goal of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day is to harness the power of women in business and foster an environment to promote women entrepreneurs here and on a global scale.