Helping Women Develop Businesses More Important Than Ever During Pandemic

In a typical year, the Women’s Business Development Council helps between 800 and 1,000 clients. Aswe all know, 2020 was anything but a typical year, and the numbers at WBDC bear that out.

From mid-March through November 2020, WBDC focused on redirecting its services to respond to the quickly emerging crisis and meet the ever-changing needs of small business owners in Connecticut. During this nine-month period, WBDC counseled and trained over 4,600 individuals, representing 600% of WBDC’s total 2019 client volume.

WBDC, with offices in Stamford, New Haven and New London, is the only agency that reflects the state’s demographic makeup and offers comprehensive micro-enterprise training. With services ranging from financial education, entrepreneurial development, and access to capital programs, WBDC is focused on helping businesses acquire the tools necessary to sustain long-term business profitability.

Since 1997, the Women’s Business Development Council has educated and trained more than 15,000 clients, helping women launch and scale over 6,000 businesses, create and maintain over 8,100 jobs in Connecticut and access more than $22 million in capital. This history of serving women-owned businesses in the area prepared the WBDC to help them in a year of unprecedented demand.

“The urgent need to assist our community in navigating COVID-19, as well as elevate businesses owned by women of color, has not only reaffirmed this mission, but greatly strengthened our commitment to women entrepreneurs throughout the state,” said Fran Pastore, Chief Executive Officer of WBDC.

In the early months of the pandemic, representatives of WBDC were frequent panelists on webinars across the state. From these platforms, WBDC highlighted the ever-changing government services and loan opportunities, helping to provide information on the latest programs from Washington and Hartford alike.

Nearly 5,000 individuals participated in WBDC’s advocacy, networking, and educational services during the last nine months of 2020. Over 32,000 users visited the website 53,000 times, viewing over 115,000 pages. This data reflects the impact of COVID on individuals who previously had no need to reach out for guidance or assistance, as 83% of these clicks came from new visitors to the site.

WBDC was not immune to the effects of COVID. As it redirected services to meet unprecedented needs within the community, it simultaneously changed its own operational procedures. All services were provided while the WBDC closed its physical offices and learned to operate its multifaceted operation remotely, offering services and programs virtually from March 2020 onward.

To meet the needs of its clients, WBDC even managed to launch new initiatives in this challenging time:

• Child Care Program: Sustaining child care service providers through mentorship and business development, WBDC put over $1.648M in emergency relief grants into child care businesses in need of assistance. They anticipate putting another $2 million in the hands of Connecticut child care business owners by 2022. This assistance is given in the form of capital and technology grants that do not need to be repaid by business owners.

• Equity Match Grant Program: The WBDC expanded their Opportunity Fund to meet the needs of both new and existing women entrepreneurs during the pandemic, growing it into a million-dollar initiative. This program provides women with access to the capital they need to open a business, or simply stay in business. (Applications for the grant program are now being accepted through February 15. Visit ctwbdc.org/equity-match-grant-program to learn more.)

• Blue Stream: Cultivating the entrepreneurial ambitions of women embedded in the Blue Economy with a customized training program for military spouses and entrepreneurs relocating to Connecticut. The results thus far include 14 businesses launched or scaled, 17 jobs created or maintained, and more than $31,000 invested in grants and self-funding.  Additionally, WBDC received national recognition for entrepreneurial excellence in 2020 by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

• WBDC Connect is a newly launched membership program that promote connections between women business owners.

The Minority-Owned Enterprise resource page was developed by WBDC in response to the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020. The online directory is elevating businesses owned by women of color, as are the numerous webinars WBDC conducts to build cultures of inclusion within organizations.

“Women of color dominate the retail, hospitality, and healthcare sectors. Many have lost their jobs because of COVID 19. They are turning to entrepreneurship as a logical and reachable goal to achieve economic self-reliance. In the past nine months, WBDC witnessed an exponential surge in the number of startups seeking its services, particularly women of color,” Pastore said.

Prior to the pandemic, women-owned businesses were already on the rise. “An impressive 1 in 10 adult women are entrepreneurs” according to data from the recent State of Women-owned Businesses Report. Per the same report, the number of U.S. women-owned firms has grown 2.3 times faster than the national average. The number of firms owned by women of color has grown by twice that rate, 4.8 times faster than the national average.

In the year ahead, Pastore anticipates programs such as the Child Care and Equity Match Grant programs will be essential for sustaining small businesses throughout the state— granting them not only the funds they need to survive, but the training and tools necessary to thrive moving forward. "While there is much that is uncertain about the upcoming year, one thing is for sure—WBDC will continue to be there for our clients."