Cohort of Ten Minority Women Entrepreneurs Take the Next "Step Forward" to Increase Capital Reach
The Prince George's County Economic Development Corporation continued its mission to help small and minority women-owned businesses, graduating its first cohort of the Step Forward Initiative. The inaugural cohort of ten minority women entrepreneurs completed a program that began during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, preparing them for the vibrant Prince George's County economic landscape.
“The Step Forward Initiative is a six-month program is designed to serve the needs and challenges of established businesses in their quest to obtain access to capital," said Ebony Stocks, Executive Vice President of the Prince George's County Economic Development Corporation. "It quickly grew to be so much more, and we've encouraged all of our cohort participants and the broader business community to take advantage of our other programs at the EDC. This is just an example of what we do daily to give our business owners support, and for this cohort, it is just the beginning."
The six-month program featured workshops with guest speakers that covered various topics to prepare the business owners to thrive in the market. Topics included business planning, marketing, business process, and legal business formation, all explained by industry experts. The financial training was designed to assist women-owned businesses in getting the right connections to accelerate business growth. It was provided by partners like Prince George's County Federal Credit Union, Sandy Spring Bank, Capitol One, Main Street Bank, and SCORE.
"When I started, it was the height of COVID-19, and my mortgage-paying job had me traveling a lot internationally; I didn't realize how much of my time was being taken," said Sherrie Brown, owner of Savvy Scents. "My sister and I started a business on the side and applying the things I learned from the cohort, I met with a credit union and recently signed contracts to have my products in stores. This really did help me."
In addition, presentations were made by the Women's Business Center on the types of funding products available to businesses, the Financial Empowerment Center on how to establish business credit, and by various experts from local lending institutions who discussed financial projections, loan ratios, and more.
"I have an engineering background, so I'm constantly dealing with a lack of confidence in my business acumen; I used this program to learn more about business," said Step Forward graduate Emmalyne Head, owner of Southern Belle Cleaner. "The best part was all of the speakers, which made me rethink what I thought about loans."
Facilitated by the EDC Business Development team of Alicia Moran, Manager of Small Business Services at PGCEDC, and Andre Plummer, Financial Services Program Manager, the Step Forward program helped some women entrepreneurs pivot during the pandemic.
"All of the workshops elevated my game and helped me think on a broader spectrum," said Step Forward graduate Gina Head, owner of LiveScan MD. "I wound up hiring someone and will implement more of what I learned. I’ve been Prince George’s County for quite a while. This county is improving yearly."
Expected program outcomes for Step Forward participants include their ability to identify loan package deficiencies/shortfalls, have a completed loan application package ready to submit for funding, and have their loan application pre-viewed/prequalified by lenders.
Funded by a grant from Wells Fargo, Step Forward focuses on women-owned businesses based in Prince George's County. Cohorts are competitively selected annually to join the program. Participants will meet one-on-one with a company and/or banking counselor to work directly on their specific needs and strengthen and/or mitigate shortfalls in their loan packages.
