Women-owned businesses are vital to the West Virginia and the nation's
economy.
Though men are more likely than women to be business owners, (10.4
percent of all adults compared to 5.7 percent of women), female entrepreneurship
has been growing at twice the national average since 1997, according
to the Center for Women's Business Research in Washington, DC.
West Virginia ranks near the bottom among states for business ownership
by women. But two non-profit organizations have recently partnered
to try to change those numbers and increase the number of women entrepreneurs
statewide.
Pendleton County-based Lightstone Community Development Corporation
and Taneytown, MD-based Women's Business Institute have partnered
to train, support and loan money to women small business owners.
Women's Business Institute has offered support services to women
for six years in the Maryland region and for the past three years
in Keyser, Mineral County. This month, Women's Business Institute
received a grant from the Small Business Administration's Office of
Women's Business Ownership to open a Women's Business Center in Fairmont
at the Alan B. Mollohan Innovation Center.
Lightstone Community Development Corp. has operated a loan fund in
West Virginia since 1994 and last year became a certified Small Business
Administration micro-lender for the state of West Virginia. Last year,
the organization approved 16 of the 17 SBA microloans in the state.
Women-owned businesses are an important part of Lightstone's total
loan portfolio. Since 1994, the organization has loaned and invested
more than $766,000 in 75 small, West Virginia businesses, which has
helped to create and retain 139 jobs in the state.
Of the 75 loans, 30 have been made to women - 40 percent of Lightstone's
total portfolio.
"Women are a dominant force among small business owners,"
said John Walters, Lightstone's loan fund director. "We are excited
about the opportunity to work together with Women's Business Institute
to bring a comprehensive business training course and a potential
access to capital to qualified women in West Virginia."
Bea Checket, CEO of the Women's Business Institute states, "By
leveraging our resources, we will be able to offer more services to
women, enabling them to seriously consider small business ownership
as a viable career option. Our organization is pleased to be able
to offer additional services to the women of West Virginia through
our ongoing partnership with the Small Business Administration and
our newly formed partnership with the Lightstone Community Development
Corporation."
States with the highest rates of business ownership, both among women
and overall, are clustered in the Mountain and Northeast regions of
the U.S, according to the Center for Women's Business Research. Among
women, states with the highest rates of business ownership are: Alaska,
Colorado, Montana, Vermont, Wyoming, Oregon, Utah, Idaho, Maine and
New Mexico.
The lowest rates of business ownership are found primarily in the
Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. Among women, the states with the
lowest rates of business ownership are: Mississippi, Pennsylvania,
Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, West Virginia, South Carolina, Kentucky,
Wisconsin and Ohio.
Among all adults, rates of business ownership range from a high of
15.1 percent in Montana to a low of 8 percent in West Virginia.
For more information about Women's Business Institute, call Bea
Checket at 410-266-8746 or Kathy Johnston at 304-366-1400 or go to
http://www.wbi-wv.org.
For more information about Lightstone Community Development Corporation,
call John Walters or Michelle Marshall at 304-249-5200 or go to www.lightstone.org.
You can contact the SBA's Woman's Business Ownership Representative,
Sharon Weaver, at 1-800-767-8052 option 8, then extension 239 or via
email at Sharon.weaver@sba.gov.
Michael J. Murray is the director of the West Virginia District
Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
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