The Small Business Administration (SBA) has a specialized sector just for women looking to start a business in the United States. This sector of the SBA is called “The Office of Women’s Business Owners” (OWBO). This office is dedicated to women in order for them to succeed and compete in the small business world today. Although The Small Business Administration has grants for women starting up a small business, women still need to go through the approval process of an SBA backed loan. It is important to note that the government through the SBA does not actually give out the loan; instead they guarantee it.
What this means is that there are certain banks and financial institutions that are backed by the SBA and these lenders are the ones who actually give women business owners funds to start a business. Then, the SBA guarantees the loan by saying that they will pay the lender back a certain percentage if the woman business owner who takes out the loan defaults on it. Furthermore, the woman business owner wanting to get the loan still has to have good personal and/or business credit noted by the three major credit reporting agencies, a detailed business plan, and proper financial information in order to get an SBA backed loan.
If you are a woman business owner looking to start a business through attaining a loan, there are several resources out there that will prove beneficial to your cause. There are Women’s Business Centers, WBC Grant Opportunities, SBA partners such as The National Woman’s Business Council and Gateway for Women-Owned Businesses Selling to the Government, and other valuable resources such as the National Foundation of Women Business Owners and the National Association for Female Executives. If you are a woman business owner trying to attain a loan for your great idea or small business, make sure to do your due-diligence online first so you have some great resources at your disposal.
Tags: due diligence, loan defaults, major credit reporting agencies, national association for female executives, national woman, small business administration, three major credit reporting agencies, what this means, woman business owner, women business owners