A businesswoman may need financial assistance to start her small business.
Due to past discrimination against women, the federal government provides programs to assist them in a variety of ways. One program, provided by the U.S. Small Business Administration, offers small-business assistance, with special programs for women in business. The help offered meets a number of small-business needs. Financial assistance, including grants, is a common need for a woman-owned small business, whether it's for starting or expanding a company.
Woman in Business Assistance Programs
Help for a woman-owned small business is available.
The Small Business Administration maintains an Office of Women's Business Ownership to meet the special needs of women in business. It has 100 local offices in the U.S. where a woman small-business owner can go to receive counselor assistance regarding any business needs. It's web site provides a locator to find the office nearest you. The counselor doesn't provide grants but instead offers information about financing needs and helps locate local grant sources. Assistance for training in developing management skills and acquiring government procurement information is provided. (sba.gov/about-offices-content/1/2895)
Assistance In Finding Grants for A Woman in Business
In its policy statement about government grants to small businesses, the Small Business Administration states that it doesn't provide grants to individual businesses but rather to state and local nonprofit organizations that offer financial and technical assistance to business owners. Grants to women in business are available, but it takes research and time to find them. The Small Business Administration provides a sophisticated search tool for locating grants and other forms of financing. The tool is gender specific: After the woman-owned business criterion is entered, the user can indicate a state, industry and other factors to focus the search on. Search results include potential state and local government grants, local angel investors and special loan programs.
Small-Business New Technology Research Grants
Developing new technology is encouraged by federal grants for women in business
New entrepreneurial technology research and development is encouraged by the Small Business Administration through the Small Business Innovation Research grant program, which a woman-owned small business may apply for. This program is administered and promoted by the Small Business Administration, while 11 U.S. federal labs offer research proposals for small-business entrepreneurs to bid on. The federal labs include those in the departments of Defense, Agriculture, Commerce, Energy and Homeland Security, among others. A woman small-business owner that presents a winning bid receives a grant of $100,000, as of 2011, for new technology research. When completed, she is provided a second grant of $750,000 for development of the technology. No funds are issued for the commercialization of the new product.
Second Research Grant to Small Businesses
The Small Business Administration grants funds to women in business for technology development.
A second research grant program is administered by the Small Business Administration for small businesses, in partnership with five federal labs. The labs of the departments of Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and National Science Foundation offer new technology research proposals for small-business bids. A woman-owned business entrepreneur must partner with a university or private research organization to bid on a proposal. If she wins a bid, she and her research partner receive a $150,000 grant, as of 2011, for research, and a $1,000,000 grant for development using the research facilities of the partnering group.
Tags: Business Administration, Small Business Administration, Small Business, women business, federal labs, Small Business