Are there any grants available to women business owners to help launch or grow a small business? -

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The federal government (through the SBA) has specialty loan programs that aim to help women open or grow businesses. But the best options for you are probably at the state level, where loans of as much as $50,000 are often available to female-owned companies. (Be careful with the word grant, by the way, because this money rarely comes without a requirement for collateral or a need to pay it back. So it s a loan, not a gift.) There s a pretty good list of programs at http://www.business.gov/start/woman-owne�� that could provide a place to start. Beyond that, I m a big fan of the National Association of Women s Business Owners, which has a ton of information on its site: http://nawbo.org/. I d also recommend finding the NAWBO chapter near you so that you can begin the networking process that many entrepreneurs find so helpful.Lastly, regardless of gender, Inc. Magazine has compiled a good resource for general capital-raising ideas here: http://www.inc.com/guides/finance/20797.��Good luck with your start-up.