SBA opens Women’s Business Centers across South Carolina

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Women-owned enterprises across the state will have access to training and resources through two U.S. Small Business Administration business development hubs in Greenville and Columbia, announced today.

The S.C. Women’s Business Centers, created to help women entrepreneurs launch startups or expand existing companies, will be hosted by Greenville’s Community Works Women’s Business Center and Columbia’s Benedict College.

“The new centers are a key part of the SBA’s expansion of service to foster stronger local economic opportunities, especially to those businesses that have been hit hard by the pandemic and are now focusing on a safe reopening of our great country,” SBA Administrator Jovita Carrenza said in the release. “The soul and spirit of American entrepreneurs and small business owners will continue to thrive and grow in the community and workforce as they participate in the pursuit of the American dream."

The two centers are part of a national network of 100 centers that offer one-on-one business mentoring, training, networking opportunities, workshops and technical assistance, according to the release. The SBA expects the centers to serve as an engine for job creation and the post-COVID-19 recovery of women-owned businesses in the Upstate and Midlands

“Benedict College is the perfect location for the new WBC and a top priority for the SBA,” Allen Gutierrez, SBA entrepreneurial development associate administrator, said in the release. “Founded in 1870 by an African American woman, Bathsheba A. Benedict, this WBC will strive to prepare men and women to be a ‘power of good in society,’ just as Ms. Benedict had intended so many years ago.”