March 8th, 2018 is International Women’s Day and this week’s #BusinessTipTuesday we will be focusing on this particular topic that is celebrated all over the world! According to IWD, International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. This year’s theme is #PressforProgress and concentrates on driving towards gender parity. The importance of women banding together across the world to make sure their voices are heard will be carried out throughout all of 2018 with this theme. How will you celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8th and throughout the year? Specifically, at The University of Scranton Small Business Development Center one of the things we are always celebrating is women entrepreneurs of all kind!
According to the National Women’s Business Council’s analysis of the 2012 Survey of Business owners, there are 304, 803 women owned businesses in Pennsylvania. Furthermore, the Small Business Association’s 2012 Survey of Business Owners shows that women were majority owners of 9.9 million businesses which generated $1.4 trillion in sales and employed over 8.4 million individuals. As well the Survey quotes that, almost all (99.9%) of women-owned businesses are small businesses. Way to go ladies! With small businesses near and dear to our hearts, we like to do everything we can to help anyone interested in starting a small business.
With this being said it is a great time to highlight our Women’s Entrepreneurship Center being that we are celebrating women entrepreneurs! The University of Scranton Small Business Development Center and the Kania School of Management joined together to create the Women’s Entrepreneurship Center (WEC). Business start-up information, guidance, and encouragement are among the things offered through WEC to women interested in starting their own business. The SBDC staff and WEC student interns offer a 6-week Startup program, where each woman is taken through the process of starting a business, as well as given some additional consulting. Also through WEC, there are Coffee & Confidence sessions offered throughout the year that host inspirational guest speakers on various different topics.
Since WEC’s inception in 2009, there have been 180 successful participants of the program. Women have gone on to create business plans, apply for loans, start their own businesses, and spread their entrepreneurial spirit upon their WEC graduation. Additionally, since 2010 there have been 35 students who have completed internships with the Women’s Entrepreneurship Center. The program also offers guest speakers from across the local area that share their expertise or story. WEC truly highlights women entrepreneurs be it new business owners, student interns, guest speakers, or existing business owners.
The next StartUp series offered by WEC begins on Thursday March 8th, International Women’s Day… What better way to celebrate! If you are interested in signing up for the series or are looking for more information, please visit www.scrantonsbdc.com. Also, feel free to check out www.internationalwomensday.com for all the International Women’s Day news.
Danielle Guari
Business Consultant
The University of Scranton
Small Business Development Center
#IWD2018 #internationalwomensday #sbdc #nepa #scranton #women #march8 #march #business #shopsmall #smallbiz
Artwork adapted from vecteezy.com
