SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Women-owned businesses in Central New York have had a rough go of things during the pandemic. But many are learning about the help that awaits them on the ground floor of Syracuse’s Equitable Towers.
The WISE Women’s Business Center took on 519 unique clients in the past fiscal year. That includes a wide range of businesses—restaurants, retailers and other types of service providers.
The center is funded in part by both the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Whitman School at Syracuse University. This means the services they provide are free to all the clients they serve.
“A lot of it… that’s beneficial is sitting down with a coach,” said the center’s director Meghan Florkowski. “[It’s] having somebody else by your side as your accountability partner as you’re working through these different issues that you’re facing.”
This afternoon, WISE is hosting a webinar entitled “The Building Blocks for Starting a Business.” It’s an hour-long course designed to help aspiring entrepreneurs learn the basics of navigating their target marketplace.
The webinar will take place at 5 PM over Zoom. Florkowski said it’s a great opportunity for prospective clients to establish their initial point of contact with the center.
Once WISE brings new businesses on board, they employ a variety of methods to support them as they continue to adjust to a post-COVID world. This includes one-on-one counseling, targeted online courses such as their “Small Business Resilience Program,” and helping them navigate the small business loans process.
“Our clients are dealing with all of the normal challenges it takes to run a small business…plus a million other things that the pandemic has just made so much harder,” said the center’s program manager Kimberly Dryden.
With the delta variant once again rising to “substantial” levels of spread in Onondaga County, businesses are once again struggling with many of their day-to-day logistics. But Florkowski also believes this is can be an exciting time for entrepreneurship.
“Sometimes opportunity comes through really difficult situations,” she said. “While many doors have closed, there are also many that we’re seeing that are opening right now.”
