Women’s Business Center of Western North Carolina to provide business development programs

Press Release

The Support Center

The Support Center (TSC), a not-for-profit small business lender and Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), is pleased to announce the official launch of its Women’s Business Center of Western North Carolina (WBCW) on July 29th, 2014 during a luncheon held at the Renaissance Asheville Hotel at 11:30 a.m.
Mayor Ester Manheimer, County Commissioner David Gantt and State Senator Terry Van Duyn will attend the opening along with dozens of business leaders from local community colleges and small business organizations.

The WBCW’s mission is to provide high quality business training and development programs that reduce barriers and serve as a catalyst to the success of entrepreneurs, particularly women who are socially and economically disadvantaged in the Western region of North Carolina. TSC will also provide loans to qualified women-owned businesses that seek services from the WBCW.

“The mission of the WBCW is a natural fit within TSC’s mission as it incorporates and extends the work we already do in providing training and technical assistance to not just women but all underserved markets in North Carolina,” says Lenwood V. Long, Sr., President/CEO. “It also aligns and is similar to the mission of the national WBC program as that mission is to ‘level the playing field’ for women entrepreneurs who still face unique obstacles in the world of business,” says Long.

The WBCW will replace a previous WBC that originally closed for strategic reasons by the former operator. The former WBC provided invaluable services to the women in the Western region, which is one of the most distressed in the state. The WBCW will operate under the leadership of Sharon Oxendine, TSC’s Business Development Specialist, who also operated the previous WBC where she served 1800 active clients and helped to start 900 businesses. The WBCW will fill this tremendous void in services to entrepreneurs, particularly socially and economically disadvantaged women, by providing training, technical assistance and access to capital.

With over 500,000 of the Western region’s population being women and an average of 30 percent of all businesses in the region owned by women, there is significant market opportunity for the business services the WBCW plans to offer.

The WBCW will be housed at the TSC’s satellite office inside the headquarters of Eagle Market Streets Development Corporation (EMSDC) in Asheville, NC.

The WBCW will offer the following services in support of its mission:
• Business plan development
• One-on-one business development counseling
• Certification assistance for federal programs
• Marketing, accounting and other workshops
• Referral support for business services, and
• Networking and marketing opportunities

For more information about WBCW, please contact TSC at (919) 803-1437 or sbl@thesupportcenter-nc.org.

About The Support Center
Founded in 1990, The Support Center (TSC) is a statewide, not-for-profit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that provides small business loans, financial training to businesses and lending services to community-based organizations. Over the past three years, TSC has invested more than $10 million in small companies across North Carolina helping to create or retain more than 360 jobs. For more information about TSC, please contact Communications & Marketing Director, Vicki Lee Parker at (919) 803-1437 or vparker@thesupportcenter-nc.org.