We constantly receive requests for information about grants for female entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses. While the obnoxious guy on late night infomercials exalts the ease of obtaining this money, Avocado Group would like to share some information we've learned about this topic...

The Women's Business Center at the SBA is always a great place to start. The WBC portion of the SBA site has some valuable links, message boards, and other great resources and insight. Grants.gov will always have a searchable listing of grants available from the federal government. As you may come to understand, the 'billions of dollars available for women-owned enterprises' do exist, but these funds may be reserved for very specific and/or esoteric contractors or agencies with varying social agendas. For our friends that are interested in creating lifestyle businesses (or any kind of business without a social agenda), we definitely recommend contacting the WBC @ the SBA to learn about the possible ways they can help with loans and grants.

Trolling through the results of popular search engines has been a largely fruitless effort, as we've found more online opportunists than legitimate grant-providing organizations. Some of these opportunists are providing information and resources that are free to you via Grants.gov while others demand your money before divulging that there are no grant opportunities that fit your situation - caveat emptor!

The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) maintains an extensive trove of information, resources, and opportunities that help women prepare for the journey of entrepreneurship.

As always, feel free to contact Avocado Group to learn more about the ways we can help woman-owned enterprises capitalize on opportunities!