Women-owned firms account for 40% of all privately held businesses in the US, according to the National Association of Women Business Owners. Yet how many small and start-up business owners are taking advantage of government-backed financing and funding and programs to finance their business? What options are the best fit for your business? Join Melissa Fischer of the Small Business Administration and Julie Lenzer Kirk, co-founder of the Path Forward Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, home of the ACTiVATE program for this soup to nuts webinar on Demystifying Government Funding for Business on April 30th at 2:00 PM EDT .

You'll learn:

• various options for government funding;
  
• tips for further exploration of SBA-backed loans;
  
• state and federal government grants;
• and more.
  

When: April 30th at 2:00 PM EDT.

Cost: $10

Please note that we have limited webinar lines, so please take a moment to sign up now! Details to login to the webinar will be sent to registrants couple of days prior to the event.

About the Presenters:

Melissa Fischer: Melissa is the Lender Relations Specialist at the US Small Business Administration.She has over 20 years banking experience, including consumer branch management, business banking relationship management, and SBA lending as well as training and CRA work.

Julie Lenzer Kirk: Julie harnesses her experience as a successful and award-winning IT entrepreneur to assist others in realizing their dream of entrepreneurship and taking their already-established entrepreneurial companies to the next level. Her book, "The ParentPreneur Edge: What Parenting Teaches About Building a Successful Business" (John Wiley & Sons) is available online on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and in bookstores across the globe.

Ms. Kirk is CEO and Chief Muse of Path Forward International, which helps entrepreneurs, companies, and communities leverage innovation to drive economic empowerment. Path Forward was awarded Top 100 Minority Business Enterprise in Maryland for 2008 and has been certified by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).

An adjunct professor in innovation and entrepreneurship, she is also in her fifth year with the NSF-funded ACTiVATE program at the University of Maryland , Baltimore County. Through this program, which was named “Best Specialty Entrepreneurship Program” by the US Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, she helps experienced women start businesses by licensing technologies from universities and government labs.

Sponsored By: National Center for Women & IT, ACTiVATE Program, Path Forward International, Women Who Tech, Small Business Adminstration, Women 2.0 and NTEN.