Women’s Busines Center! Open Houses March 8-12
JOIN IN LAUNCHING THE 15-COUNTY NEW GROWTH WOMEN’S BUSINESS CENTER!
Open House events March 8-12 across 15 counties in Missouri and Kansas will celebrate women in business. They will also launch a new rural resource for all entrepreneurs, the New Growth Women’s Business Center.
Celebrate Local Economy Sheros!
Each Open House takes place 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Each event is limited to 20 seats and will observe coronavirus precautions: social distancing and masking.
Speakers and success stories are on the agenda, along with food at no cost. The events will also stream live in part on Facebook @newgrowthmo.
Organizers kindly request participants register in advance.
OPEN HOUSE EVENTS 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
March 8 El Dorado Springs, MO @ The Liston Center, 508 N. Main St.
March 9 Buffalo, MO @ Market 116, 116 Cedar St.
March 10 Pittsburg, KS @ Riggs Chiropractic, 1117 W. 4th St.
March 11 Clinton, MO @ Delozier Building, 201 W. Franklin (NW corner of square)
March 12 Camdenton, MO @ Camdenton Chamber of Commerce, 739 US-54
SPEAKERS
March 8 Dr. Tammy Ogren, CEO & Founder at Expand With Purpose and Cottey College faculty
March 9 Mary Overby, Borealis Consulting – Funding your woman-owned business
March 10 Carolina Vargas, Small Business Administration – Government contracting
March 1 Jenn Bradshaw, Truman Lake Adventure Club – Building business having fun
March 12 Karin Bell with Lake of the Ozarks SCORE business counselors
In addition to business counseling, training, and financing, the New Growth Women’s Business Center will offer women’s leadership networking and business mentorship, and assistance in government contracting and exporting. It is based in El Dorado Springs, MO, and will serve 13 Missouri counties (Barton, Bates, Benton, Camden, Cedar, Dade, Dallas, Henry, Hickory, Morgan, Polk, St. Clair, and Vernon) and two Kansas counties (Bourbon and Crawford).
Women’s Business Center designation comes from the U.S. Small Business Administration, which provided initial funding to launch the new rural resource. It is operated by community development corporation New Growth with parent organization West Central Missouri Community Action Agency on behalf of the regional START HERE Business Acceleration Network.
Much Needed Now
“During the last year our rural small businesses have encountered many obstacles,” said Jo Ann Lane, New Growth Women’s Business Center board member and Benton County (MO) economic developer. “The opening of a Women’s Business Center will bring essential resources to women entrepreneurs in our rural areas and will be an incredible asset for their success.”
Hollie Elliott, Executive Director of the Dallas County Economic Development Group, is another board member. “We know that access to resources can be much more challenging in our rural communities, and initiatives such as this are invaluable,” she said.
Women Lead the Way
In Missouri, women own 22 percent of firms with paid workers compared to 19.5 percent nationally. Addressing a relative lack of access to capital and other resources is essential for building the women-owned businesses that lead the way nationally in business development, employment, and revenue.
According to the 2019 State of Women-Owned Business Report, the number of U.S. women-owned businesses increased 21%, while all businesses increased only 9%. Total employment by women-owned businesses rose 8%, while for all businesses the increase was far lower at 1.8%. Total revenue for women-owned businesses also rose slightly above all businesses: 21% compared to 20% respectively.
