Our Mission

Women's Economic Ventures is dedicated to creating an equitable and just society through the economic empowerment of women.

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Courses Enrolling Now!

set banner_no specific dateSelf-Employment Training (SET) and Business Plan Intensive (BPI) courses begin in September. Sign up for an orientation today!

Client of the Month

 

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Ninette Paloma started aerial dancing for sheer pleasure, but she soon wanted nothing more than to make it a full-time endeavor. Now, she invites others to "honor the past and explore the uncharted" with her at her thriving studio, Santa Barbara Centre for Aerial Dance. Read more. 

Welcome to WEV

It’s no secret that navigating the path to business success isn’t easy. That’s why WEV exists. WEV helps not only during the start-up phase of your business, but throughout the critical first five years or more. WEV helps small businesses succeed by providing a nationally recognized training program, access to start-up and growth capital and ongoing assistance as your business grows.

WEV provides micro-loans of $1,000 - $25,000 for start-ups and loans of up to $50,000 to existing businesses. WEV has provided more than $2.5 million to local small business owners who couldn’t get bank financing.

While big business makes news, it is small businesses that make jobs. Since our inception, we’ve helped to establish more than 2,000 businesses that have created over 3,500 new jobs on the Central Coast.

Owning your own business doesn’t have to mean you’re on your own.  At WEV, you’ll find a community of support that includes our professional staff, expert consultants, dedicated volunteers and thousands of peers who have chosen to become business owners. WEV is a Women’s Business Center funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration – but we serve men, too.

Explore our website to find out how WEV can help you.
 
Are you an entrepreneur?

The word entrepreneur comes from the Old French word entreprendre, which means to undertake. The American Heritage dictionary defines an entrepreneur as “A person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture.”

The definition gives several clues as to what it takes to be successful. Not only must you be able to organize and operate a business, you must be able to assume the risk of doing so. Many people think that risk-taking is synonymous with recklessness. Nothing could be further than the truth. When you are risking your own time, money and future, you must be extremely careful.
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ParentClick.com

ParentClick_logoParentClick.com is proud to be a Media Sponsor for WEV. ParentClick, Inc. is an organization committed to centralizing resources for parents within their own communities while creating affordable marketing packages so that both businesses and non profits can reach the family demographic.

MicroTest

Aspen InstituteMicroTest, an initiative of the Aspen Institute, is a management tool that empowers microenterprise practitioners to gauge and improve their program performance and client outcomes. WEV has been a member since 1999.

U.S. Microenterprise Census

us microenterprise census were listedWomen's Economic Ventures (WEV) is proud to be one of the 696 Microenterprise Development Organizations recognized by the the U.S. Microenterprise Census in 2009.