“Wow! Our 25+1 Desserts & More annual fundraiser was great fun! Thank you to the sponsors, donors, and attendees for making it a huge success! We joined virtually, played BINGO, had door prizes and heard the inspiring stories from three of our women entrepreneurs!
WBEC-East. Picture it… Sicily in 1925…. Oops. Wrong Golden Girls. Picture it… Philadelphia in 1995… there were small business centers for entrepreneurs. But – none specifically dedicated to the challenges of women entrepreneurs. Enter the Women’s Business Enterprise Center-East, started with a grant from the United States Small Business Administration. As the first gender-focused small business development center in the Mid-Atlantic region, over the past 26 years WBEC-East has served over 40,000 individuals and helped to build over 500 new businesses. As a third-party certifier of women-owned businesses, we have over 1,700 certified Women Business Enterprises in our region employing over 53,000 workers. We’ve impacted the lives of countless women and the regional economy, but just like our Desserts & More… there is MORE.
While the recovery from the pandemic, unrest, and uncertainty continues, WBEC-East will be here to help – thanks to the generosity of the sponsors, donors, and attendees of our Desserts & More annual fundraiser! As a non-profit organization we rely on Desserts & More each year to raise matching funds required for our SBA grant. For 2022 we will expand our educational trainings, following the full life cycle of a woman-owned business from Start-Up, Stretch, Sustain, and Sunset to include additional opportunities in the Recovery Stage. To address the needs of women whose employment was impacted by the pandemic – now may be the time for them to start a business! We’ll be launching Encore Entrepreneurship programs to address and support those whose next chapter includes forming that business. We’ll be expanding our membership and offerings of our NextGen and Women of Color Committees… Join us to address the specific challenges facing these specific constituencies! And of course – come next November – we’ll be having our Desserts & More fundraiser again and will be looking for your support!
Be sure to follow us on all of our social media channels as we share procurement and entrepreneurial opportunities – not just from WBEC-East – but from all of our partner organizations. And… while we will continue having a virtual presence, we will be meeting again in person in 2021!
Thank you for the support of what we do…. And please keep it coming!”
-Liz Walsh, WBEC-East President