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By Lanita Withers Goins, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-3890
Posted 10-28-09
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Women business owners will find inspiration and tools to further their enterprises at the second annual Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership and Learning (WELL) conference Nov. 6-7.
Registration for the conference, themed “Women Entrepreneurs on the Rise,” is $30 for adults and $15 for youth. Registration is available online at http://www.wellwomenonline.org.
The conference is a part of the WELL program, a collaborative, community endeavor which also includes monthly workshops held at the UNCG Bryan School of Business and Economics and a growing online social network, said organizer Dr. Channelle James, a faculty member in the Bryan School.
The WELL program is designed to give budding entrepreneurs and business owners the tools for success. “The program is targeted toward new, first-generation and small-venture type women entrepreneurs in the Triad,” she said. “I hope that the WELL program will encourage women entrepreneurs to become a central part of economic development in the Triad area.”
The conference, sponsored by the Bryan School and the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship, will begin Friday, Nov. 6, with an “authors as entrepreneurs” roundtable starting at 6 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble at Friendly Center, 3102 Northline Ave. The conference will continue from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, at Greensboro’s Dudley High School, 1200 Lincoln St.
Seminar workshop options for adults include sessions on how to create a cash flow statement, how to build a strong marketing strategy, using social media to reach more customers and tax implications of starting a new business. The conference also has a track designed for high school girls called “Moguls in the Making.” The young entrepreneurs will participate in workshops on product development, financial literacy and an elevator pitch competition.
The keynote speaker for the conference will be Jan Matthews-Hodges, owner of the Benson-based The Pound Cake Company, who will speak at 11:50 a.m., Nov. 7. Matthews-Hodges started her business in 2004 after winning Best of Show at the 2003 N.C. State Fair with a pound cake recipe she worked to perfect for more than a decade. Her business, which expanded during the summer of 2009, employs close to 20 people.
The conference will close with a reception where attendees will be able to meet successful local entrepreneurs including Ursula Dudley Oglesby, the president of Dudley Products; Sheila Robinson, the CEO of Diversity Woman Media; and Dr. Margaret Arbuckle, executive director of the Guilford Education Alliance.
In addition to the Bryan School and the Nussbaum Center, the event is supported by the Friendly Center Barnes & Noble, Truliant Federal Credit Union, 1721 Media, the Greensboro Partnership and Microsoft Corp.
For more information, visit http://www.wellwomenonline.org.
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