The 401 Q & A
BY LAUREN CLEM
PHOTOGRAPH BY ALESSANDRO CERDAS .
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Q & A : Lindsey Ramirez
The director of Rhode Island ’ s Women ’ s Business Center talks entrepreneurship and finding her way back home .
INDSEY RAMIREZ ALWAYS DREAMED beyond the nine-to-five grind .
A native of Edgewood , she taught English abroad , studied tech in Spain and lived in New York City before moving home to Rhode Island two years ago . Today , she ’ s the director of the Rhode Island branch of the Center for Women & Enterprise , a Boston-based organization dedicated to empowering women entrepreneurs . The group operates a Women ’ s Business Center that receives funding from the U . S . Small Business Administration in Providence ’ s Fox Point neighborhood , offering resources and opportunities to connect with like-minded women . Visitors can drop in during office hours or take one of several classes and workshops designed to help get their businesses off the ground .
Here , Ramirez shares stories from her entrepreneurship journey and weighs in on the challenges facing women business owners today .
Can you tell us a little bit about what the Center for Women & Enterprise is ? The Center for Women & Enterprise is an economic empowerment organization , and our focus is to help women of all backgrounds start and grow businesses . It started in 1995 . A woman named Andrea Silbert went on a two-year trip to South America , and she was inspired by businesses there . She went back to her hometown , which is in Boston , and then started CWE . It initially was a micro-lending institution that helped women entrepreneurs . She met a business partner named Susan Hammond and in 1998 , they expanded . We ’ re funded by the U . S . government , so it ’ s [ the Small Business Administration ] primarily . And then we match our funding from other sources — sponsors , corporations and a variety of others .
Since we ’ re funded by tax dollars , most of our resources are low-cost , and even the low-cost things are negotiable . We make it super accessible . Our main resources are consulting , workshops and programs , and networking and connection opportunities . We also help with certification .
When was the Rhode Island branch founded ? CWE in Rhode Island opened in 2000 . Since then , we ’ ve helped and supported roughly 18,900 women . This year in May , we ’ re celebrating the thirty-year anniversary of CWE being open .
Rhode Island is blessed to have many organizations that help small businesses get off the ground . What sets CWE apart from other organizations like Hope & Main , Social Enterprise Greenhouse or the Rhode Island Black Business Association ? The difference with CWE is that we focus on women , and our holistic approach . It could be a woman at every stage . We have a class to help you understand what entrepreneurship entails , steps to entrepreneurship , things that you might consider . So from the spark to a business that ’ s thriving and wants to scale , all levels of entrepreneurship is what we cater to . A lot of our instructors , too , are not just educators . They ’ re people with experience . They graduated from our business planning course and then come back . They want to give back to the community . They want to teach . They want to share what worked for them . A woman needs someone to lean on . Entrepreneurship can be pretty lonely , especially for women who don ’ t have a support system .
What are some of the unique resources that women business owners need ? Women
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