Feature Stories - February 2002

Where to Start, How to Start

Resources for Women and Minorities in Business

by Nancy E. Lowe

After awhile the acronyms seem to blur together: SBA. NSBDC. NMI. SCORE. NWBRAC. Start researching information about the resources available in Nevada to women and minorities in business and you will likely end up with a huge file of information. Each agency, it seems, works closely with and refers clients to a dozen more, all designed with one goal in mind: to assist people who want to go into business for themselves.

Some of these agencies, such as the Nevada Women’s Business Resource and Assistance Center, have been designed specifically to aid women and minorities. Others have incorporated special programs for women and minorities into already existing entities, like the Pre-Qualification Loan Program in the U.S. Small Business Administration.

NEVADA WOMEN’S BUSINESS RESOURCE AND ASSISTANCE CENTER

The Nevada Women’s Business Resource and Assistance Center (NWBRAC) is a non-profit organization that helps low- to moderate-income women in the Las Vegas area who are seeking to become self-sufficient through entrepreneurship or small business ownership. According to executive director Allison Loftus, the program began nationwide in the mid-1990s with bipartisan legislation on behalf of the Small Business Association. The group was seeking a specific program targeted at women, because women business owners lacked access to capital and information. NWBRAC is sponsored by the Southern Nevada Certified Development Corporation.

"We assist anybody who calls and asks for help," said Denise Licea, program manager for NWBRAC, "especially now, with people being laid off. They want to start a business but they have no idea what kind of business, where to go, who to call, who to talk to, etc. We give them advice, we counsel, we offer some educational opportunities, we do a lot of referrals and we offer some print resources."

NWBRAC primarily does referrals for individuals seeking information about running a business, but they also offer one-on-one counseling and educational seminars on various aspects of starting a new business. Although the NWBRAC is currently located only in Las Vegas, Licea said a Reno branch is anticipated within the next year or two. Because most of its clients are low- to moderate-income, fees are offered on a sliding scale.

NWBRAC in Las Vegas can be contacted at 702-732-0414.

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

"The Small Business Administration (SBA) is very interested in encouraging business owners in areas of our society that we feel are not adequately represented in the small business community. That includes women business owners and also minorities," said Jeffrey Eveland, economic development specialist for the SBA. "We have a number of partnerships: partnerships with lenders, partnerships with organizations that assist businesses." For example, Eveland pointed out the SBA’s partnership with the Small Business Development Center, which will help an individual evaluate an existing business plan or create one from scratch.

The SBA sponsors the Pre-Qualification Loan Program, designed to provide support for women, veterans and minority-owned businesses in the small business loan application process. The SBA also provides the Women’s Business Center Online on its Web site, offering information, management techniques, mentoring, counseling and newsgroups for women who may not have an SBA center nearby.

The U.S. Small Business Administration can be reached at 702-388-6611 in Southern Nevada and at 775-784-1717 in Northern Nevada. The Web site address is sba.gov.

NEVADA MICROENTERPRISE INITIATIVE

"The state has indicated that [the Nevada MicroEnterprise Initiative] is a crucial program we need to incorporate, not only for women and minorities but for all individuals," said Jodie Ernst, project director for the Community Business Resource Center in Carson City, a branch of the Nevada MicroEnterprise Initiative (NMI). "There’s a certain number of people who don’t even know the first step involved in trying to attract financing. [They] go into business saying, ‘Oh, I know this will work,’ and they’ll put all their expenses on a credit card. ...It’s just destined to fail."

According to executive director Nancy Erends Bahr in Reno, there are two sides to NMI - training and lending. "We do entrepreneurial training and technical assistance, so if people have a good business idea but they don’t know if they can really make enough money at it, we have feasibility classes, and then we follow it up with how to write a business plan," she said. "We also have a micro-loan program based on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s guidelines. We lend from $100 to $35,000. We are kind of ‘niche’ financing for very small businesses. Most banks do not offer business loans under $100,000."

Nevada MicroEnterprise Initiative can be reached in Las Vegas at 702-734-3555 and in Reno at 775-324-1812.

THE COMMUNITY BUSINESS RESOURCE CENTER

"The Community Business Resource Center is a non-profit organization that was created by the state of Nevada Commission on Economic Development Rural Communities Program," said project director Jodie Ernst. "It’s like a one-stop shop for access to capital." The Community Business Resource Center, a branch of Nevada MicroEnterprise Initiative, pools several non-traditional financial lenders into one office, including the Nevada Revolving Loan Fund, the Rural Nevada Development Corporation and the Nevada Development Capital Corporation. In 1999 the agency won an award from Department of Housing and Urban Development for its creativity in leveraging funds on behalf of small businesses throughout the state.

As part of NMI, the Community Business Resource Center also offers classes in business-plan writing and feasibility. This agency offers classes not only in Las Vegas and Reno but in rural communities as well. "It helps businesses develop that crucial two-year plan in order to reach their goals, assess their systems, find out what their market is and see how feasible an opportunity is," Ernst said.

The Community Business Resource Center in Carson City can be contacted at 775-841-1420.

NEVADA SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER

The Nevada Small Business Development Center (NSBDC) network, with branches located throughout the state, is a business assistance program funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration and the University of Nevada, Reno. It provides general business consulting, professional development training, geographic information services, environmental assistance, technical research and economic information. Its services include counseling, professional training workshops, geographic information services and access to data from the state demographer’s office and the Bureau of Business and Economic Research.

The state office of the NSBDC is located on the University of Nevada, Reno campus, with branch locations in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Gardnerville, Carson City, Fallon, Elko and Winnemucca. The state office of the NSBDC can be reached at 775-784-1717 or on the Internet at nsbdc.org.

THE NEXT STEP

"We’re trying to create jobs for low- to moderate-income individuals: sustainable jobs where they can be employed and make a living, and maybe change their economic status, or go into business for themselves and provide jobs (for others) and create opportunities for themselves," concluded Jodie Ernst at the Community Business Resource Center. "These are usually individuals who don’t qualify for big financing - they don’t have the collateral, they don’t have the credit availability, they don’t have the cash."

The programs offered by all of these agencies can help women and minority business owners - and all business people, for that matter - to identify the things a small business is likely to experience and prepare them before they take the enormous step of establishing their own company. Of course, whether a business succeeds or fails is ultimately up to the entrepreneur. "We are willing to answer questions, but we will not do their business plan for them," said NMI’s Bahr. "[People] are entitled to access to information and education. We can lead them in the right direction, we can counsel them, we offer technical assistance, we can find people to help them...but it’s up to them to make it happen."