Recently in the Access to Capital Category

Today Women Accessing Capital, one of Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP)'s educational programs, hosted a webinar, "The Landscape of Community Development Lending for Small Business." Connie Evans, President and CEO, Association for Enterprise Opportunity, shared a wealth of information on alternative funding sources for women small business owners who are seeking capital. Some key take aways were:

• Community Development Financial Institutions emphasize relationship-based lending and will look at you and your business beyond quantitative factors. These lenders can be a good option for start-up companies and individuals with damaged credit or limited collateral. For more information visit www.cdfi.org
• The microenterprise landscape is defined as a business with 5 or fewer employees, and 88% of businesses in the US fall into this category. If 1 in 3 microenterprises hired just one more person, the US would be at full employment!
• The Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) is the voice for microenterprise. AEO creates opportunities for underserved entrepreneurs and assists them in starting, stabilizing, and expanding business. To learn more about how they can help your small business, visit http://www.aeoworks.org
  

I'm excited to announce WIPP's new partnership with KeyBank's Key4Women program. Key4Women will be partnering with WIPP's Women Accessing Capital program to help women-owned businesses better understand the process of obtaining financing. Together, these programs will seek to inform women about legislation directly impacting their businesses and provide financial education associated with acquiring funding, a combination that aims to support women in business with the resources essential to business growth.

In conjunction with WIPP's goal to make securing capital an easier and more transparent process, Key4Women will host webinars and local seminars on topics such fraud prevention, courage and leadership, SBA loans, venture capital and angel investing, and capital expenditures. Also, WIPP will connect our Instant Impact leaders across the country with Key4Women's programming and vice versa so that members of both organizations can benefit from the resources, information and connections being shared.

Key4Women was founded by Maria Coyne, Executive Vice President of the Business Banking segment at KeyBank. Maria offers financial advice for women in her monthly blog, Maria on Money, and is responsible for KeyBank's SBA program.

Today, we ask you to add your support to WIPP's Economic Blueprint.
 
WIPP's mission is to carefully analyze and assess federal policy for small business owners in the following areas: Economic Principles, Access to Capital, Procurement, Healthcare, Energy and the Environment, and Technology and Telecommunications.

The outcome is the Economic Blueprint for the 112th Congress, which outlines the policy priorities of Women Small Business Owners.  The Blueprint is our call to action, which each one of us, regardless of political party or ideology, can unite behind.

By adding your name, YOU give this document strength and demonstrate your support of the Blueprint's principles to Congress.
 
As small business owners, we know time is precious. Please take one minute to add your name and strengthen a unified, national voice for women in business.  If you have already signed-on, thank you!

Click here to sign-on for no charge.

OR
For more visibility, click here to support the Blueprint at the level of your choice.

Cathy Martine, AT&T EVP of Small Business Solutions addressed WIPP's Annual Leadership Conference, Women, Money and Opportunity on Tuesday, September 28, 2010. In her keynote address, she expressed concerns of the day to day struggle of women-owned small businesses to sustain and grow their businesses, acknowledging that they need wireless solutions to provide them the "edge" and ability to provide solutions to meet their customers' needs. Martine then announced that AT&T's financing subsidiary, AT&T Capital Services will provide loans to small businesses looking to deploy new wireless solutions or upgrade existing ones.   

"With more than 25 years experience in communications financing, we know the challenges that small businesses face and understand that today, perhaps more than ever before, access to capital is critical to sustaining their operations," said Martine. She continued, "Our goal is to provide small businesses with access to new options for funding game-changing wireless solutions, to help them innovate and grow and, ultimately, to serve as a catalyst to jumpstart this critical engine for U.S. economic recovery."

This is exciting news and just the boost that our small business owner companies need to hear. 

Thank you, AT&T.

Click here for more information on the benefits of AT&T financing.