For the last few years, local women with entrepreneurial drive have had help establishing their own businesses and overcoming obstacles with the assistance of a Westerville-based nonprofit.
The Women’s Small Business Accelerator of Central Ohio behaves as a business incubator, with several modules to help launch and enhance the work of female business owners.
“Our education program is the biggest,” says co-founder Mary McCarthy. “We wrote the coursework ourselves, and in six months, we teach you how to develop an idea from its head to a viable business plan.”
Not only are business owners taught to produce effective business and sales plans, but at the end of the program, each is equipped with a 21-page spreadsheet containing business budgets, sales forecast and the like.
“The goal is for the business owner to seek funding,” McCarthy says. “Working on your credit can’t guarantee funding for a start-up. Funding is hard, but we work with you as a partner to get directions, and we also work with the lender with you.”
Besides this education program, McCarthy – along with accelerator co-founder Caroline Worley and Executive Director Sharon DeLay – encourages these women to adopt professional attitudes when conducting their own business. That means treating everyone they deal with in their everyday lives with respect and keeping their minds open to innovative ideas.
This past fall, WSBA celebrated the end of its first year as an organization, but McCarthy, Worley and DeLay are veterans in building businesses for women and providing resources and services.
McCarthy owns Your Management Team; Worley is a business attorney with her own law firm, Worley Law; and DeLay owns BoldlyGo Coaching and HR. All three have been Westerville residents since before they opened their 6,500-square-foot Westerville office at 403 W. Main St.
Among the organizations boosted by the accelerator are Gong Gong Communications, a marketing and creative services company, which was launched and hired its first full-time employee; and McCoy Wealth Advisors, which launched its financial advising business to aid other business owners.
This year, the organization aims to roll out a new Mentor Match program in which women who have already achieved a certain level of success in their own businesses will mentor women in their first year of conducting a business.
“Through us, we hope to provide a collaborative environment for these women to come and gain support,” McCarthy says.
Nen Lin Soo is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
