SBA Seeks to Support Women Entrepreneurs through Counseling and Training Instead of Grants

Grants Are Given to Women's Business Centers, Not to Individual Entrepreneurs

Small business grant for woman entrepreneurs would seem more like a pie in the sky, a hope that does not solve your business financing problems. The US small business support agency, SBA, seeks to support women entrepreneurs through counseling and training rather than by giving financial grants. SBA does announce periodical grants for Women's Business Centers - WBC - a national network providing educational resources for women entrepreneurs.

This page comes under the section Small Business in USA.

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WBCs can be found in all regions, and they help women start and run their own businesses through:

Training Programs: Programs are announced periodically to train women entrepreneurs in different aspects of starting and running a business. For example, women planning to start a business can learn about the legal, accounting and marketing aspects involved. A familiarity with all these aspects will help them avoid typical troubles. Another training program might help them develop business plans and cash flow statements, for example. Some are paid training programs while others are free.
Counseling: You can talk to experienced persons one-to-one and find out how to attend to different things in starting and running your small business. You can thus find out, for example, how to research your market and estimate your sales. You would typically get an initial few hours of free counseling and might then have to pay for any additional hours. It is thus best to go prepared with very specific queries.
Mentoring: Mentoring typically involves experienced businesspersons helping newcomers with practical business problems. They might be formally arranged in the form of a roundtable discussion, where a guest speaker talks on a topic of interest and this is followed by discussions or peer support sessions. You can present your problem or idea at these sessions. This is a great way to learn how to handle practical day-to-day problems.
Networking: When you become a member of your regional WBC, you are networking with the center people as also with other members, all of whom are businesspersons like you. You are quite likely to get business leads and other kinds of practical help in running your business from these people. You can establish complementary relationships that benefit both the businesses involved. Networking is an essential component for success in the world of practical business.
Advocacy: WBCs in particular regions can take up women's business issues of concern to women entrepreneurs in their regions. Organized action in this manner can produce better results than individual actions.

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We started with the topic of small business grant for women and then took an abrupt diversion to business training and mentoring programs. Why?

Training Is Definitely More Important for Business Success than a Handout

A handout in the form of a grant cannot help you much if you do not know how to go about starting and running a business. You would soon find that the grant money is gone and that you have nothing to show for it. You might even find yourself in trouble because you spent the grant money for non-business purposes.

On the other hand, by getting exposed to the practical issues of starting and running a small business, through both the training programs and discussion sessions, you become aware of what to expect and how to handle the issues. You would then be really ready to set out on your own. Above all, the members of your business network would be able to help you find customers and business leads.

Small Business Grants Are Hard to Find

As we mentioned at the beginning, the federal government and SBA does not give grants to individuals. Some state governments might. So might some private philanthropists. You would have to spend a great deal of time and even money looking for such a grant, only to find at the end that you were unable to get it for one reason or other.

Don't you think that the time and effort is far better spent in joining a WBC and getting trained for business (and finding people who can help you)?

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