Women entrepreneurs talk financial, business resources with Davids at roundtable

Businesswomen in Kansas City met with Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids on Thursday morning to discuss legislation she filed that would improve resources and opportunities for women entrepreneurs.

The Women's Business Centers Improvement Act, which passed with unanimous bipartisan support in Congress two years ago, with reintroduced by Davids and New York Rep. Claudia Tenney.

The women in the Kansas City roundtable included:

• Lenora Payne, CEO of Technology Group Solutions
• Rebeka Garcia Cook, executive coach at Greenboat Coaching and Consulting
• Sherry Turner, executive director of the Kansas City Women's Business Center
• Rebecca Hamilton, owner of Virgil's Plant Shop
• Corinne Hodges, CEO of Association of Women's Business Centers
• Ashlyn Roberts, Association of Women's Business Centers

Davids' legislation reauthorizes the Women's Business Center program for four years and increases federal funds it is authorized to spend from from $18 million annually to $31.5 million. It also would increase the cap on individual center grants for the first time since the program began.

The bill establishes an accreditation program run by the Association of Small Business Development Centers to ensure all services from the center.

"My new legislation is designed to give WBCs the resources they need to reach even more potential business owners and continue to cultivate a thriving local economy here in Kansas and nationwide," Davids said.

The Kansas City Women's Business Center, where the event was hosted, is located at 6405 Metcalf Ave. in Overland Park and serves over 600 clients annually in the metro and across of Kansas. It provides business trainings, workshops, counseling and access to capital programs.

Hodges said the federal CARES Act was essential to the success of women-owned businesses, but that funding has expired, and the timing of the WBC Improvement Act was ideal.

"Women now more than ever are turning to entrepreneurship and (at Women's Business Centers) we craft our services to everyone, we want to reach socially underrepresented communities and particularly women of color," Hodges said.

Turner highlighted childcare as an important issue for government officials to keep in mind — not just as a personal familial issue, but as a business issue.

"We see it in employment, entrepreneurship, and so many businesses go under because these families aren't supported," Turner said.

When funding from the Paycheck Protection Program was being distributed, Hodges said women-owned businesses struggled to be up-to-date with their finances. She said additional funding from the bill could help implement programs and resources to help them secure financial stability.

"It's due to this misconception that women are financially illiterate, but women aren't stupid. They have their minds on other things and are trusting people that are taking advantage of them. We need to help women get ahold of that part of the business."

Hamilton said that pop-up business owners often feel like they're not included in small business conversations because they don't have an LLC to their company.

"A lot of these people don't have much of an idea outside of their passion that's in the form of a popup, so maybe showing up and provide that access to folks," Hamilton said.