Women business owners kick off pilot 'Banking on Women' program in Utah

SANDY — When Karen Gunn wanted to start her own business years ago, she could not get a loan without a co-signer. And when she went to the bank, the secretary assumed she was an assistant to the men present and suggested Gunn wait in the hall while the loan was being processed.

"I said, 'No, I'm the business owner,' " Gunn recalled Thursday before a nearly all-female audience at the Miller Free Enterprise Auditorium.

Gunn now is the dean of the School of Professional & Economic Development at Salt Lake Community College. And Thursday was launch day for "Banking on Women," a U.S. pilot program sponsored by GE Capital in conjunction with the Utah Microenterprise Loan Fund and SLCC's Women's Business Institute.

The effort is intended to help create jobs by supporting women entrepreneurs with training, mentors and access to financing so they can begin a start-up business or expand existing enterprises. It is aimed at women who cannot get traditional financing. A microenterprise business is one with five or fewer workers that needs less than $35,000 to start.

Applications can be found at www.gecapital.com/banking_on_women.html and are due Sept. 15.

A panel of women business owners praised the venture and told audience members of their own experiences. The panel included Betsy Burton, owner of The King's English Bookstore; Jen Castle and Blake Spalding, founders of Hell's Backbone Grill in Boulder, Garfield County; and Lorena Riffo-Jenson, co-founder of VOX Creative.

All four women agreed it is essential to have a good accountant and lawyer when starting out, as well as a network of supportive people.

It also is essential to give back to the community, they said — it is the right thing to do, and it comes full circle because customers notice, appreciate it and want to patronize your business even more.

They also stressed the importance of discovering who you really are as an individual and staying true to your own core values when starting any kind of business venture. Once your own moral compass is in place, speakers said, it guides everything from mundane spending to wide-ranging decisions.

e-mail: lindat@desnews.com