SBA & AARP Resources for Entrepreneurs

The U.S. Small Business Administration and AARP are launching a strategic alliance to provide counseling and training to entrepreneurs over the age of 50 who want to start or grow a small business. Through SBA’s online training courses and its nationwide network of business mentors and counselors, the two organizations expect to train 100,000 “encore entrepreneurs,” men and women over 50 who are starting or running a small business.

The initiative's website includes a self-assessment tool to help potential small business owners understand their readiness for starting a business and information to help with business planning, shaping a winning business idea, professional counseling, financial services, and information to find local resources.

“No matter what your age, if you have an idea or a business that’s ready to move to the next level, the SBA wants to make sure you have access to the tools you need to start and grow,” said SBA Administrator Karen Mills. “We know that working side-by-side with AARP, we will be able to reach baby boomers and Americans over the age of 50 who have years of professional experience working for others and are ideally positioned to step out and become their own boss. And, in doing so, they will become job creators and drivers of economic growth in their communities.”

SBA and AARP also will jointly develop and host a customized online course, self-assessment, and webinar series for older entrepreneurs.  SBA already offers a suite of online courses for people who want to start and grow their business. To take a course, go to http://www.sba.gov/training under “online courses.”  Course topics include start-up basics, finance strategies, marketing tactics, overseas trade, and more.

March 22: WBO Web Chat with SBA

SBA’s March Web Chat Offers Tips and Advice for Women-Owned Small Businesses

Topic: Ask the Expert: Women's Small Business Open Forum    
Host: Ana Harvey, Assistant Administrator, SBA’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership
Time: Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 1:00 p.m.
 
In recognition of National Women’s History Month, SBA’s March web chat will feature an open forum on Women’s Business Ownership.  The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership helps to promote growth of women-owned businesses through SBA programs offering business training and counseling, access to credit and capital, and business and networking opportunities.  It also administers a nationwide network of Women's Business Centers that provide training and counseling to entrepreneurs.

SBA's Online Business Chat is a live Q&A session with small business experts. Submit your question before or during the chat discussion. You cannot submit question after Closing Remarks for the chat. No registration is needed for the web chat.

Learn more and submit your question. 

Nat'l Entrepreneurship Week: Free Webinars

February 21-24, 2012, daily at 3:00 p.m. (ET)

What: The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will host a series of free webinars in recognition of the sixth annual National Entrepreneurship Week.  The emphasis will be on financial empowerment and building the entrepreneurship skills of the next generation of small business owners, using business basics, social networking and business strategizing.

Tuesday, Feb. 21, 3:00 p.m.: Entrepreneurship Empowers Everyone

Presenter: Felipe Wright, CEO Intelligent Information Technology Solution

Wednesday, Feb. 22, 3:00 p.m.: The Things an Entrepreneur Needs to Know

Presenter: Joseph Clarke, Chapter Chair, Washington, D.C. SCORE

Thursday, Feb. 23, 3:00 p.m.: Building Your Team

Presenter: Melanie Lamar-Hancock, President, Right at Home, Washington, D.C.

Friday, Feb. 24, 3:00 p.m.: Entrepreneurship & Networking

Presenter: Jennifer Kushell, Founder and CEO, YSN.com

For information on logging-in to the webinars, visit http://www.sba.gov/about-sba-services/7367/47881.

National Entrepreneurship Week (February 18-25, 2012), hosted by the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education, celebrates the heritage of entrepreneurship in America and of entrepreneurship education for the next generation.  For details on this and other events, visit the National Entrepreneurship Week website at www.entre-week.org.

SBA's Federal Contract Program for Women

The SBA holds monthly web chats to answer questions from the small business public and provide responses from experts on a variety of dynamic small business issues.

During the latest web chat, Michele Chang, senior advisor in the Office of Government Contracting and Business Development at the SBA, answered questions about the “SBA’s Federal Contract Program for Women - Part 2." Read a transcript of that web chat here. (For Part 1 and other archived web chat transcripts, visit the SBA's Online Business Chat room.)

The SBA's Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contract program authorizes contracting officers to set aside certain federal contracts for eligible women-owned small businesses or economically disadvantaged women-owned small businesses. Learn more here.

Exporting Assistance for Small Businesses

photo source: jdnx

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has provided $30 million in grants to states, territories, and the District of Columbia to help increase exporting by small businesses during the next 12 months.  for trade and export promotion. The grants are part of the State Trade and Export Promotion (STEP) Program.

The funding will support participation in foreign trade missions, foreign market sales trips, subscriptions to services provided by the Department of Commerce, website translation fees, design of international marketing media, trade show exhibitions, participation in training workshops, and other critical export initiatives.

The SBA anticipates it will conduct a new competition for STEP program grants during the winter of 2011. Awards will be made in September 2012 for export support services by states over the following 12 months.

The grants were authorized by the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. The STEP program, launched in March, aligns with President Obama’s National Export Initiative. The President’s initiative calls for doubling U.S. exports in five years – and in so doing, supporting two million jobs. The program provides federal government funding for 65 to75 percent of program costs, with states supplying the remainder.

“Strengthening the nation’s economy through a substantial increase of U.S. exports is a top priority for the Administration and the agency,” said Karen Mills, SBA Administrator. “This is a unique partnership between the federal government and the states. Sharing responsibilities and resources will help new small exporters across the country enter and succeed in the global market.”

Small businesses who want to receive assistance under the STEP program should contact the organizations serving their states. Find a list of these organizations and more information about the STEP program here.

Developments in Women-Owned Businesses, 1997-2007

The Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has released the study "Developments in Women-owned Businesses, 1997-2007" (pdf).  The study looks at developments in women-owned businesses during that ten-year period using data from the Census Bureau’s Surveys of Business Owners. During this time, women's share of total U.S. firms increased from 26 percent in 1997 to almost 29 percent by 2007.

“In a series of roundtables across the country, we heard from women business owners that they face many of the same challenges other small business owners face—particularly challenges related to access to capital and regulatory burdens,” said Chief Counsel for Advocacy Winslow Sargeant. “This research places women-owned businesses in the context of the wider business community and will provide valuable information for policymakers as we move forward.”

The study found the following: 

• Twelve percent of women-owned businesses were employers in 2007, while 88% were non-employers.
• Women-owned businesses accounted for 4% of total business receipts in 2007.
• Women-owned firms employed 6.4 % of the 118.6 million employees of employer firms in 2007. 
• The top four sectors for employer firms owned by women were retail trade, professional services, health care and social assistance, and accommodations. 
• In five states and the District of Columbia, the number of women-owned businesses per 1,000 persons was greater than 30 in 2007.

For more information and to access the full report, visit the SBA Office of Advocacy website.