About Us
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![]() What is the Florida Women's Business Center?The Florida Women's Business Center (FWBC) was established in October 2004 and is the result of a partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Women's Business Ownership and is a small business resource center in Florida dedicated to the individual professional development of women. The FWBC provides management and technical assistance, help with writing business plans, business counseling, and special workshops, which include internet training and financial literacy. Although our services are available to all business concerns, we are committed to attracting and serving women, especially those who are socially and/or economically disadvantaged. Our staff includes bi-lingual counselors and trainers who are able to accommodate Spanish speaking clients. Location & Hours:The FWBC is open during normal business hours from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm Monday to Friday. To accommodate our clients, certain events will be scheduled during evening hours. Contact our main offices to arrange a convenient time and date for one-on-one counseling, training, use of our resource library or internet access.
What is our service area?We cover 18 counties in the southern region of Florida, with offices in Palm Beach, Broward and Lee Counties.
How is the center important to the community?Our primary focus is to provide training, resources, referrals, support and advocacy to women entrepreneurs and others seeking to create, sustain, or grow micro businesses. From 1997 to 2002, the number of women business owners increased 14%. This rate is twice that of all U.S. firms which rose 7% during the same period. This growth has resulted in the need for specialized services for the woman business owner. As of 2004, there are an estimated 716,209 women owned businesses in Florida comprising 48% of all privately held firms in Florida with sales of $152 billion and employing 1,012,659 people (Source: 2004, Center for Women's Business Research). What services are provided?The Florida Women's Business Center provides a large range of services. We provide management and technical assistance, help with writing business plans, business counseling, and special workshops, which include Internet training and financial literacy. Our resource library has publications on various topics such as marketing, management, taxes and lending programs. We also have a state-of-the-art computer lab with internet access that is available to clients of our center. Read more... What is the cost to our clients?Because we are awarded a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration and receive additional funding from the TED Center and other sponsors, the majority of our services are free. There is no charge for individual counseling and most workshops are free or cost a nominal fee to cover costs. Who provides the funding?Funding for The Florida Women's Business Center is provided in-part by a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Women's Business Ownership and by contributions from The Center for Technology, Enterprise and Development, Inc. (TED Center), corporations, foundations, and individual donors. It is a cooperative program which maximizes the services of the U.S. Small Business Administration's local resource partners and other community organizations. |
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