By Pat Lawrence
Beatrice Checket |
West Virginia Women who are starting a business or running an existing
business have a new resource in the Women’s Business Center
opened in by the Women’s Business Institute. The Women’s
Business Institute provides training, counseling and technical assistance
to any woman who owns a business or who wants to own a business.
Beatrice Checket, founder and Chief Executive Officer of the WBI
says, “We target women who dream of owning their own business
and help with training in financial procurement, technology and marketing.”
West Virginia was one of just three states that did not have a Woman’s
Business Center. Ms. Checket believes that the WBC can be an essential
tool for women in their quest for success. She says, “We’re
in the business of partnerships and sharing expertise. Our goal is
to commercially empower women. We want to foster successful women’s
businesses in West Virginia.”
The WBI started seven years ago as an all-volunteer organization
in Maryland. With Bea Checket as the driving force and major funding
from the Small Business Administration, the non-profit organization
has grown to include four centers in Maryland, a satellite office
in Keyser and the new office in the Alan Mollohan Innovation Center
at Fairmont.
David Satterfield, Executive Director of the WV Development Institute,
was present at the WBC grand opening, saying, “We are woefully
inadequate in how we support women and women owned business. The participation
of women in the workforce is absolutely key to improving our economic
environment.”
Bea Checket says other states have found out just how true that is.
She says, “As of 2002, there were an estimated 6.2 million majority
owned, privately held women-owned businesses in the US. These firms
are generating $1.15 trillion in sales and employing 9.2 million workers.
Dreams don’t come easy, but when women are successful in business,
they create a stronger economic environment for us all.”
Kathy Johnston, formerly with the Small Business Development Center
at Fairmont State College, is directing the organization’s Fairmont
activities. Through referrals from the SBA and their own marketing
efforts, she says, “We offer no cost, one on one, business counseling.
Our goal is to assist in starting 39 new businesses, help 55 women
with existing businesses, and assist in the creation of 85 new jobs
in the process, by October 1, 2003.”
Ms. Johnston would like women to know that many of the WBC services
will be available online and by phone. She encourages women to visit
and use the facilities in the Fairmont office, since the office adjoins
the SBA Business Information Center, providing easy access to business
resource materials and computer workstations. They plan on opening
other branch offices in the state. “Women are starting businesses
at twice the rate of men. We’re here to help them succeed.”
Pam Rose, a business counselor with the WBC is an accountant and
business owner. She says, “We assess what’s going on to
find out what women need for their business. It may be more training,
more education or more financial information. It may be finding lenders
or creating a business plan. It may be learning the language of business.
Women need to feel confident that they can accomplish their goals.”
On March 27 the WBC, in conjunction with the YWCA and the SBA, will
present Five Steps to a Business Plan at the YWCA in Clarksburg. In
a round table format and over dinner, businesswoman/ facilitators
and representatives of the SBA will help entrepreneurs write their
own business plan. Registration, starting at 5:30, is $15.
In addition to the WBC website www.wbi-wv.org
, entrepreneurs may take advantage of the SBA’s online Women’s
Business Center, www.onlinewbc.gov, which offers information on market
research, business principles and practices, management techniques,
SBA programs and services, financing and upcoming events. In addition
to online mentoring, WBC anticipates the development of a mentor match
up program, with established businesswomen and new entrepreneurs.
To contact the West Virginia Women’s Business Center, call
304-366-1400,
fax 304-367-0867, visit them in the Alan B. Mollohan Innovation Center,
1000 Technology Drive, Suite 1210, Fairmont, WV 26554 or visit their
website.
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