Women in Business

According to the U.S. Small Business Association, women owned 6.5 million out of 23 million non-farm businesses in 2002 generating $940.8 billion in revenues, employing 7.1 million workers and paying $173.7 billion in payroll. With more than 50 percent of the U.S. population owning fewer than 30 percent of its businesses, it seems that the playing field is still not level.

Enter Kimberle Levin and Montgomery County Community College.

To help women entrepreneurs gain the business skills they need to establish their businesses and help them thrive, Montgomery County Community College is offering a new program — Growing Your Woman-Owned Business - to provide women with practical marketing, business development and financial solutions and strategies as well as vital networking opportunities beginning today.

The program is an outgrowth of the Starting A Successful Woman-Owned Business Program, which started in 2005, Levin said in an e-mail interview. The program has since taken on a life of its own at Montgomery County Community College.

“Interest in the program over the six years of its existence has been exceptional,” Levin said. More than 300 women have taken the Starting a Successful Woman-Owned Business Program. The Montgomery County Woman-Owned Business Network was created in the spring semester of 2007 to provide support to women who have taken the Starting a Successful Woman-Owned Business Certificate Series (“A membership program, it serves both aspiring entrepreneurs as well as existing women business owners, providing practical information,” Levin said).

The following year, a three-hour workshop was introduced to help women understand what would be required of them personally as business owners, Levin said.

The most recent program, Growing Your Woman-Owned Business, covers marketing, including the use of social media, an overview of accounting software, and business development strategies. Levin will also coach participants in a one-on-one coaching session, she said. 

A successful entrepreneur who recently launched her seventh company, Levin founded and leads Teknuko, which provides information technology infrastructure services. She also leads Kimberle Levin Events and KidzTri3. Other companies she has established are JVC Technologies, Innovative Staffing Solutions, Telcom Assistance Center and Integrated Services Digital Networks.

Levin expects that alumni of the Starting A Successful Woman-Owned Business Program who both have and have not yet established businesses and women from the community who own enterprises to enroll in the newest program. She hopes to keep the class small - about 12 students - to allow for personalized attention.

“The program will provide the participants with the ability to address two areas that we have found are of greatest challenge to small business owners: marketing and financial management,” she said. “It will allow them to comprehensively examine their marketing and develop a strategic marketing approach to develop or expand their markets. They will also be exposed to the techniques of successful personal selling.”

Networking is an important component of the program.

“As with all of the programs for women business owners, the participants will benefit from the support and ideas of classmates,” Levin said. “There is a strong sense of connection and community that develops among the students that provide motivation and encouragement to the women. These bonds are so strong that the students often continue to meet on an informal basis after the program has been completed.”

The weekly sessions will be held at Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. beginning tonight; June 17; June 21; and June 28. The program fee is $175.