A year after opening its doors to the West Virginia community, the West Virginia University Women’s Business Center has trained nearly 300 individuals, offered more than two dozen small business workshops and counseled approximately 50 business clients. With a focus on nascent and pre-venture entrepreneurs of any gender, the Women’s Business Center offers services including one-on-one counseling, networking events, training workshops and technical assistance on topics including business fundamentals, financial management, marketing and procurement, as well as connections to prototyping and financial assistance. The WVU Women’s Business Center is the only WBC in the state of West Virginia.
“As we embrace our land-grant mission to drive business growth and enhance economic opportunities across the state, we are encouraged by how many members of our community are seeking the Center’s services,” said Andrea McCardle, director of the WVU WBC. “We look forward to expanding our reach in 2018 to continue providing the resources, skills and coaching West Virginians will need to pursue their entrepreneurial endeavors and open or expand their businesses.”
McCardle also noted that by diversifying West Virginia’s workforce and emboldening more women to pursue startups, the WVU WBC is also advancing the goals of West Virginia Forward. “Startup by startup and business by business, we are eager to help expand West Virginia’s economic landscape while revitalizing local communities,” she said. “The WVU WBC is excited to play a part in moving West Virginia forward, especially as we work to draw more women and underrepresented groups into the workforce.”
Funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the United States Small Business Administration, the WVU WBC, like WBCs in other states, works with all community members who seek their services. However, these Centers are charged with focusing on women, who remain underrepresented as entrepreneurs and business-owners nationally. Women’s Business Centers across the country train nearly 150,000 women annually, contributing to the 9.8 million women-owned businesses in the United States. Those businesses, in turn, collectively employ more than 8 million workers and generate more than $1.4 trillion in revenue.
The WVU WBC is part of the WVU IDEA Hub, a university-wide network of centers, offices and programs that fosters and supports innovation and entrepreneurship in WVU students, faculty and staff while engaging the statewide community. A visual map of the full IDEA Hub and detailed information about the resources included in it can be found at https://ideahub.wvu.edu.
For additional information on the programs and resources available at the WVU WBC or to request an appointment, contact Andrea McCardle amccardl@mail.wvu.edu or 304.293.8206.