I met Jennifer Brin Kovach, director of the Florida Women’s Business Center, at an event last year and was impressed with her entrepreneurial resource center dedicated to helping women start and run successful businesses. It’s one of 100 such centers nationwide and is a collaborative partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The FWBC is expanding the programs it offers in Broward County. I especially like her monthly Smart Talk For Women mentoring luncheons where a different group of women come together each month to discuss business issues and challenges. The FWBC also offers one-on-one counseling, training and peer mentoring. Check out what the FWBC offers here.
Jennifer and the FWBC staff took time out to answer some questions for a recent Herald Q&A:
Q. What do you see as the key challenges facing South Florida’s small business community today?
A. The lack of availability of loans for business creation and expansion. Before the recession people were able to bootstrap starting a business by using personal credit card loans and home equity loans, but that is extremely difficult to do now since personal credit lines have been reduced and home values have dropped. As a result, more business owners are turning to traditional business loans at a time when qualification standards have been raised and the availability of funds has decreased.
Q. What does it take for a female entrepreneur to be successful – in three words?
A. Smart, risk-inclined, detail-oriented and confident (sorry had to be four)
Q. What holds women business owners back?
A. One key challenge specific to women is that they typically handle most of the family and household responsibilities in addition to managing their careers, and since starting and running a business takes often 200 percent of one’s time, it’s difficult for some women to find the time and energy to devote to their business and to get the buy-in and support from their family.
The other key challenge common both to women and men is that they have the motivation and desire to start a new business, but believe a good idea and the right attitude = success.
There is so much more involved in having a successful business.
Q. What type of training or program is most in demand?
A. It depends on what phase the client is at when they come to us. We serve people who are exploring the idea of starting a business, persons who have just started their business, those who want to take their business to the next level and expand, and those who are struggling to keep their business afloat. Our No. 1 request is help for funding their business. Although we don’t offer funding at our center, we can help them get prepared to apply for funding and refer them to active funders in their community.
Our top five popular trainings are: 1-2-3’s of Starting A Business; SBA & Bank Financing; Business Plan Writing Series; Skills To Operate A Business; and Social Media & Internet Marketing.
Read the complete interview here.