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Women’s Business Center to close its doors

Friday, July 30, 2010

WBC members sound off on closure

Several Women’s Business Center members said they had no idea the organization was going to close prior to the announcement, and found out only through an e-mail from the board of directors.

Rhiannon Fenstermaker, a personal chef and owner of The Dinner Goddess in Epping, has been a WBC client for over two years, taking part in many of its programs.

“They had many free classes, but some of the most helpful ones were the ones on social media,” she said.

Rose Bryant, owner of Rose Bryant Original Paintings in Exeter, said the classes weren’t the only WBC services that were helpful — so were “wonderful” networking opportunities and meeting with counselors on a regular basis.

“Just the aspect of having to touch bases every month really kept my goals in front of me,” said Bryant.

Cheryl Perkins has been a client of the WBC for nine of its 15 years. She said she found the classes and the one-on-one business counseling “extremely helpful” in launching and growing her Web development and search engine optimization company, Cheryl K. Perkins & Associates in Newton.

She said she “really enjoyed” being a member of the WBC.

“I really liked Christine’s (Davis, WBC executive director) e-mail blogs. They always touched upon things I was dealing with too,” Perkins said.

In its announcement of the impending closing, the WBC board said a contributing factor was what it called the “waning” audience for a women-focused business organization.

“The businesswomen of tomorrow will work in a more gender-neutral environment and for that, we are thankful,” wrote Julie Vogt, the WBC’s board chair.

Perkins said she had “mixed emotions” about the closing.

“While it’s sad they are closing, I like that they feel the ‘mission has been accomplished’ that there is far less of a need for women-focused training,” she said.

But Michele Holbrook said she isn’t so sure that the need has faded.

Holbrook, owner of Michele’s Sweet Shoppe of Loudon said running a business “is different for women than it is for men.”

“We already have full plates. Most of us are mothers, and are trying to take care of the kids and running the house as well as running a business. We take on more than we can or should,” said Holbrook.

All four WBC members said the organization’s one-on-one business counseling was by far the most helpful service it offered.

They particularly singled out WBC business counselor Lois Matheson, who was honored as the 2010 New Hampshire SBA “Women in Business Champion of the Year,” for her guidance and support.

“I needed someone to encourage me. I needed someone to ask questions to, get answers for me, give advice, brainstorm, and I needed someone to hold me accountable and to push me towards my goals,” said Fenstermaker.

Members weren’t the only ones hit hard by the news.

“I’m very distressed by it, but I’m not surprised,” said Witmer Jones, executive director of the Small Business Administration office of New Hampshire. “In these economic times, they need to find matching funds like so many other nonprofits, but there just isn’t enough to go around.”

He said other WBCs across the country are facing the same hardships — the WBC in Hawaii closed last month.

“Our WBC provided very high-quality assistance,” said Jones. “They are going to be missed.”

The WBC said it would be contacting its current members with information about other business support organizations in New Hampshire. — CINDY KIBBE

After 15 years of serving women entrepreneurs, and those who want to be entrepreneurs, the Women’s Business Center will be shut down at the end of August.

The Portsmouth-based organization is yet another nonprofit victim of the recession. The WBC’s membership numbers have been falling since its height of 450 in 2008, along with attendance at its programs, and some expected contributions have not come through, paving the way for the decision to close up shop.

Julie Vogt, chair of the WBC’s board, said the recession in general as well as the crisis in the financial services industry added up to a “primordial soup” with the message, “You know what ladies? Your time has come.”

The bulk of the WBC’s funding comes through a matching grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Much of the other funding comes from contributions from businesses, many of them banks.

Vogt said the size of the donations from non-SBA sources has decreased in the last year. “They didn’t have the ability to fund us like they used to.” And coupled with the even greater demand related to the economic turmoil, the funding picture didn’t look encouraging down the horizon she said.

“It’s hard when people need clothes, food, shelter and heat,” said Vogt. “There’s only a finite number of dollars to go around.”

The WBC also may have been the victim of its own success. According to Christine Davis, executive director for the last year and a half, there has been more competition from other organizations in the state that are offering some of the same informational programs the WBC pioneered over its 15-year history.

For instance, chambers of commerce and law firms around the state have been offering small-business education classes and workshops for entrepreneurs — the very kind the WBC offers.

But the organization was seeing a continued, and growing, need for its small-business counseling services, with the WBC logging some 250 one-on-one sessions in the last year. “There was a lot of demand for that,” said Davis.

“The counseling was probably the biggest and strongest service we offered, as well as the mentor program,” said Vogt. “That was a huge hit in popularity. We matched a seasoned business owner with someone who needed help in that area, for instance finance or marketing. I think people found great benefit from that,” said Vogt.

There was another aspect to the decision to shut down the WBC, said Vogt: a perception that “the need for a women-focused business organization is waning.”

“The younger girls today do not see the need for a women’s business association,” she said. “Even my own daughter — she’s 20 — said to me, ‘I don’t know why you do this. What difference does it make? Men, women — it’s all business.’”

But women approach business differently, said Vogt, and still face their share of discrimination at the hands of men.

“We do business differently, we manage differently, we negotiate differently, and that’s why I think there’s still a need for an organization like this,” she said. “The younger women say no and I would love to be dead wrong, but I fear that I am not.”

Nevertheless, she said, “We’re walking out with our heads held high. We’ve done a great job and helped thousands of women over the years.”

Added Davis: “It has been inspiring to see how many successful business owners the WBC has helped throughout our 15-year history.” — JEFF FEINGOLD



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