COVER STORY

A “trusted counselor or guide” is one dictionary definition of mentor. When it comes to mentoring and fostering the entrepreneurial potential of women in the Seacoast region and the state, there is no organization like the Women’s Business Center.

Alice Zachos, the women’s business ownership representative at the Small Business Association office in Concord, works closely with the Women’s Business Center. Courtesy photo

Founded in 1995, the Portsmouth-based organization has evolved over the years to offer a wide range of educational and mentoring programs to give women with aspirations to start or grow a business a one-stop resource.

“Education is the bottom line,” said Ellen Fineberg, executive director of the WBC. “No matter how small or large your business is, the more you know directly translates into higher earnings.”

The WBC’s program offerings reflect a growing need for business education opportunities. Fineberg speaks from experience as she became acquainted with the organization before she became executive director in 2002. She was considering starting her own business but while doing due diligence, she realized the time was not right.

“It’s important to learn these things at the beginning,” said Fineberg who in 2006, was honored with a Business Excellence Award in Public Service by New Hampshire Business Review.

But the WBC has branched out in a number of avenues with programs to women of all economic levels covering the different stages of business growth — “Building Blocks,” “Next Steps,” and “Full Stride.” These offerings cover the spectrum, from creating a comprehensive business plan, to registering a business and legal issues, to different levels of marketing involvement. (Full disclosure: This writer once made a volunteer presentation at the WBC).

In its most recent reporting, the WBC said it reached more than 426 women entrepreneurs in the state with its educational programs. The WBC is funded by a major grant from the federal Small Business Administration (the Portsmouth WBC, the only one in the state, is one of 99 in the country with strong SBA financial and program ties), other grants, and corporate and individual donations. Altogether, in fiscal year 2006, the WBC said it helped 79 women create companies that employed 108 workers and generated $3 million in revenues.

Lawyer Liz Chicknavorian of Dover said developing her solo business has been greatly helped through her involvement with the Women's Business Center. Photo by Michael McCord

Education is but one of the WBC’s major strengths, said Beverly Joyce, an Exeter-based graphic designer. “Mentoring roundtables, one-on-one counseling sessions, and networking are unsung but crucial inspirational factors in starting and developing a business,” she said.

“I am the mentoring roundtable poster child,” said Joyce with a laugh. She took legal and finance classes and was involved in peer-to-peer mentoring for two years before deciding to work for herself full time while raising two children.

“It’s personal but it’s also business and I learned that we’re all in it together,” Joyce said the mentoring experience. “The sharing and openness helped me finally get up the courage” to work for herself, she said.

Joyce started Joyce Design Solutions, which specializes in affordable marketing design for small businesses, educational organizations and nonprofits. She said 40 percent of her clients come from WBC members or referrals

“I’ve never left the mentoring group,” said Joyce, who has become one of 100 WBC volunteers and 400 members. She has given presentations in her speciality to help young businesses create sensible and cost-affordable marketing plans.

“As basic as it sounds, their training and mentoring programs are remarkable,” said Alice Zachos , who works closely with the WBC as the women’s business ownership representative at the SBA office in Concord. “The encouragement they give women is strong and one of ‘if I can do it, you can do it.’ ”

Beverly Joyce, an Exeter-based graphic designer, describes herself as the “mentoring roundtable poster child” for the Women’s Business Center. Courtesy photo

“What’s been most exciting is to see women starting companies in every area. They aren’t limiting themselves,” Fineberg said. In fiscal year 2006, the WBC served an estimated 1,300 women through programs, counseling, referrals, mentoring, and inquiries via telephone and e-mail from women throughout the state.

One of the WBC’s biggest changes is how it has become less regionally focused while expanding its geographic reach to women throughout the state in areas such as Concord, Peterborough, Nashua and Manchester.

“It’s easy to forget how small New Hampshire is,” Fineberg said. “This is a very rural state and we want to make use of technology to start an online support group.”

The growth in demand for WBC services is related to the rise of women-owned businesses not only in New Hampshire but throughout the country.

“When it comes to entrepreneurship, it’s becoming a women’s world,” Zachos said. Women-owned businesses are growing jobs at a rate up to three times faster that male owned businesses, she added.

The SBA was mandated by Congress in 1988 to encourage women business ownership through WBC programs and Zachos said the growth has been dramatic. In its latest report, the SBA said it made $3.44 billion in loans to women-owned businesses nationwide, its second largest one-year total.

According to a 2005 study by the New Hampshire Women’s Policy Institute, women made up 41 percent of the state’s full-time workers and owned 24 percent of all businesses in the state.

The study, co-authored by economist Ross Gittell of the University of New Hampshire and Marjorie Smith of the N.H. Women’s Policy Institute, also showed that only eight percent of women were chief executive officers of corporations in the state and 13 percent were at the executive level — while women made up 67 percent of workers who earned at or near the minimum wage.

Zachos said the key for women business owners is access to information and resources to help them through the often turbulent first two years of business, and then to grow. The SBA has recently started a program in conjunction with the state to hold free consulting hours at the Secretary of State’s office where entrepreneurs come to register their new businesses.

Whether and how to register their new business is one of issues addressed by WBC volunteer Liz Chicknavorian, a Dover attorney. In 2003 Chicknavorian was opening up her own practice after working as a house counsel for companies such as Enterasys and Timberland. She learned about the WBC at a local chamber event and took a class in organizational skill development.

“As a resource they were incredible,” Chicknavorian said about the help she received to go out on her own. A few years later, Chicknavorian said she was making presentations on selecting a business name or getting a tax identification to women who were at the same stage she was.

“It’s enjoyable to share with them and also hear about their businesses,” she said. But she believes the ideas and referrals that come from being part of the WBC network lead to a new type of business building.

“For women to really help each other isn’t a surprise,” Chicknavorian said. “We are different.