BUSINESS
Small Business Administration’s
By Vilma Betencourt- O’Day
“Please be responsible for the energy that you bring into this room,” reads a sign created for Jill Bolte Taylor that she mentions in her book My Stroke of Insight. As I entered the meeting room at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Char- lotte branch, I felt the remarkable energy radi- ated by the speakers and moderators Ana Recio Harvey and her assistant, Erin Andrew, of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Of- fice of Women Business Ownership (OWBO). Ms. Harvey serves as the Director of the SBA’s OWBO and oversees the agency’s efforts to promote the growth of women-owned businesses through pro- grams that provide business training and counsel- ing and access to credit and capital. In addition, she is a Council Designee for the White House Council on Women and Girls.
The featured panelists were Dr. Sherry Jarrell, Professor of Finance & Economics at Wake Forest University, Sherrie Aycock, Co-CEO of AllPoints Research, Memuna Williams of AvantGarde Translations, and Heidi Whitesell, Community Bank of Rowan. They shared their wisdom and experiences with the audience. Topics ranged from corporate loans and lines of credit to Gover- nor Beverly Perdue’s Setting Government Straight initiative.
Knowledge is power. In my humble opinion, this summit succeeded at engaging, educating and empowering the business women that at- tended and participated in the very lively discus- sions that took place. It was an excellent idea to have the open-style facilitated roundtables where the attendees had an opportunity to share their thoughts, experiences and opinions. The moder- ator at each table was a member of the National Association of Women Business Owners/Char- lotte, a sponsor of the event.
At our table we were fortunate to have Elizabeth Miller as our moderator. Ms. Miller has dedicated many years to helping women business owners; she also certifies businesses owned by women as a Women Business Enterprise for the National Women Business Owners Corporation, a third party certifier approved by the Small Business Administration. Topics that were discussed dur- ing the roundtable session were: The “Missing Middle”, Start-ups, Contracting, Access to Capital and the Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program.
One of the participants at our table falls under the “Missing Middle” entrepreneur and she shared with us her frustrations and challenges of being ready to grow her business but not knowing what
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