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Need Financing to Start and Succeed in Business?Our empowerment lending program is designed to reduce risk! Women's Enterprise Centre offers a unique financing program which combines a loan with business plan assessments and ongoing business advice. This approach is designed to build your understanding and capacity to start, grow, operate a business, and maximize your resources. We offer:
As business plan lenders, we want you to succeed! You may qualify with us if you don't with other lenders. We can advise you on how to prepare your business plan, research your market, and ensure you have set in place the necessary steps to get customers, bring in revenue, and grow!
Loans for Starting or Purchasing a Business, click here Starting a Business Guide for Women EntrepreneursCreating Your Business: Success By Design
Complimentary coaching sessions to support women as they complete the guide will be offered by the Women's Enterprise Centre starting in January 2007. There will be face-to-face sessions in Vancouver and Victoria and telephone sessions for women around the province. Sessions will be held every two weeks and each session will focus on a different step in the Creating Your Business Guide. Sessions will offer guidance from a business advisor as well as peer support. More information about these coaching sessions and a session schedule will be posted on the Women's Enterprise Centre website and in the January 2007 newsletter. Creating Your Business is one of a series of five learning guides published by Women’s Enterprise Centre. Order the Creating Your Business Guide, click here. View all Women's Enterprise Centre learning guides, click here. Women's Enterprise Centre Client Success StoryHeather Creelman: Owner of the BEST seafood shop in Langley, BC! Five years ago Heather Creelman was an old hand at fish mongering, with nine years experience. Her close friend Sue Jardine had even more experience in the wholesale industry. The two decided it was time to start trolling for their own business. But money wasn't coming easy for Creelman. She was 23 years old. "Nobody wanted to play with me," she laughs. But that all changed when she approached the Women's Enterprise Centre. More Women's Enterprise Centre Client Success Stories, click here Six Keys To Common Sense MarketingMaximize your businesses potential with these six marketing strategies! Developing marketing strategy requires considerable research and thought on the part of the entrepreneur. There are some basic common sense principles at work. In fact, although some experts out there will tell you differently, a lot of marketing boils down to concepts that you already know and, in fact, most likely already use in your day-to-day lives. The secret is in knowing how to use them to maximize business potential. Women’s Enterprise Centre has identified six keys to common sense marketing.
6 HR tips for Growing Small BusinessesMaximize your businesses potential with these six marketing strategies! H.R., also known as Human Resources or Human Resources Management is the activity of managing current and future staff. In a nutshell, doing HR right can be simplified down to 2 key practices: 1. Attracting and hiring the best employees and 2. Keeping your best employees. While the right HR professional can be very effective in providing guidance to a business owner, it is not a prerequisite to successful employee practices. After all, business owners and management are ultimately responsible and accountable for managing their people.
FWE is Seeking E-Series 2007 ApplicantsAre you a woman entrepreneur who would benefit from this program? The Forum for Women Entrepreneurs BC is currently recruiting for their 2007 E-Series Program. E-Series is a course of entrepreneurial training sessions that runs from January until June for women entrepreneurs of high growth, leveragable businesses. Each year, approximately 15 women entrepreneurs are selected to participate in this program. It consists of weekly sessions taught by business leaders and industry experts. Applications for the 2007 E-Series program are now available here. Applications are due by November 10th, 2006. Completed applications can be sent to lisa@fwe.ca, by fax (604) 605 3583. V isit www.fwe.ca or call (604) 516 9250 for more information. Are You Ready to Start a Business QuizIs starting a business right for YOU? Many people dream of starting a business - but are hesitant to start a business of their own because they don't know if they're the right sort of person to be starting a business or are worried that they'll start a business and fail. Are you one of those people wondering if starting a business is right for you? This starting a business quiz will help you decide whether or not the time is right for you to start your own business.
Financing Basics for New EntrepreneursMyths and realities of financing a business in Canada. If you've decided to take the plunge that some 2.4 million other self-employed Canadians have, and open your own business, you may be wondering where the money will come from. Few entrepreneurs are lucky enough to have bottomless budgets at their disposal, and while certain businesses require more start-up or operating capital than others, all have ongoing cash flow needs. So, what are your options for borrowing money to finance your business - particularly for sums under $100,000? Let's sort out a few monetary myths from fiscal realities.
Recommended ReadingTop Ten Reasons Small Businesses Fail (pdf file) About half of all small businesses fail within the first four years - a statistic that generates a shudder of fear in even the most dauntless entrepreneur. Most of these failures, however, resemble one another in crucial ways. And once you identify these harbingers of failure, you can increase your own chance of success.
Snapshot of Women Entrepreneurs in Canada Canada's economic conditions have changed dramatically over the years. One of the most exciting aspect of this trend is the way in which women entrepreneurs have moved with confidence into the new economy. BC has almost 360, 000 small businesses, and women own or operate about 35 per cent of them - the highest rate of small businesss ownership among women in Canada. Visit our "Snapshot" statistics page here:
40 Business Ideas (pdf file) Interested in starting your own business but don’t have a specific idea? What can you do? It is often said that it will be easiest for you to start a business in an industry/sector that you already have experience in. That way you already have industry contacts and you understand how your business will work, which will save you time and money. This document is packed with advice and provides you with invaluable information for finding or generating opportunities.
Courses, Events and Happenings Women's Enterprise CentreFocused Marketing Revelstoke:
A full day workshop for small business Starting/Growing a Business Information Session Business Loans Info Session: Learn About
Your Financing Options Women's Enterprise Centre courses are available on demand throughout the province. Courses are often held in partnership with community organizations such as Women's Business Groups, Chambers of Commerce and Community Futures. If you are a provider of business services in BC, we invite you to partner with us. Call 1.800.643.7014 or email info@womensenterprise.ca Small Business BC and eBC SeminarsSmall Business BC Seminars - Vancouver Small Business BC's 4th Annual Business Plan Contest eBusiness BC Lunchbox Seminars - Vancouver Around the ProvinceFree Online Small Business Workshops The Minerva Foundation Women in Philanthropy Award Events Calendar Online |
