For women with the entrepreneurial spirit, a 2012 addition to the Westerville community offers big help with small businesses.
The nonprofit Women’s Small Business Accelerator of Central Ohio (WSBA) opened its doors at 403 W. Main St. in September. Its goal: to offer resources to female business owners in the region.
“Women are actually creating more jobs than men, but with a higher failure rate, and are generating 28 percent less revenue,” says co-founder Mary McCarthy.
In order to provide guidance for local women looking to build their own businesses, WSBA offers services such as shared office space, mentoring and education.
“We have a marketing firm, a home health care agency and an HR consulting firm,” McCarthy says.
One of the companies taking advantage of WSBA’s services is Global to Local Language Solutions – G2Local for short – which works with businesses, international corporations and educational institutions to help those who have limited or no English skills. Its clients include refugees who need interpretation or translating services in everyday and emergency situations.
“We started in Cincinnati, and Columbus is new,” says company President Grace Bosworth. “We didn’t know a lot of people, and (WSBA) was able to refer us.”
G2Local has been working with the WSBA since December and has already grown as a result. The services WSBA offers are a big help, Bosworth says, and it’s also beneficial to work in an environment where there’s a good chance someone next door will have a useful suggestion. Tenants often utilize resources within the accelerator rather than having to seek outside help.
“I think that the two women running (WSBA) are amazing. They have the same goals we have,” says Bosworth. “They opened doors for us.”
More information on the accelerator is available online at www.wsbaohio.org.
Holly Butcher is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
