Womens Economic Development Agency

WEDA offers the following training programs and ancillary services to women entrepreneurs:

The Atlanta Microenterprise Initiative ("AMI") - and Iniciativa para Microempresas de Atlanta ("IMA"), the Spanish-language version - is a comprehensive, 14-week workshop that helps emerging and new entrepreneurs learn how to start and manage a successful business, as well as how to determine funding needs and write a detailed business plan. AMI / IMA utilizes WEDA's proprietary "Business Basics" / "Principios de Negocio" curriculum to cover a variety of topics throughout the workshop series that include business licensing and regulation; marketing, including primary and secondary research and analyses; business taxes, tax credits and other incentives; bookkeeping; sales/business development; networking and procurement; operations; contract and equal employment opportunity laws, including Uniform Commercial Code; presentation skills; and business technology and e-commerce. Both AMI and IMA are offered year-round with new classes forming three times per year.

The Franchise Development Program - seeks to increase franchise ownership among women by providing education and technical assistance to better ensure long-term business success; helping entrepreneurs identify potentially suitable franchise opportunities; and helping franchisors identify potential franchisees from a pool of qualified candidates.

Impuestos Ahora! (Taxes Now!) is a semi-monthly, Spanish-language-only mobile workshop supported by the Internal Revenue Service that helps Latina entrepreneurs understand their business taxpayer rights and responsibilities. Spanish-language resources available to help small business owners also are discussed.

The Non-Profit Workshop is a quarterly workshop series designed for social entrepreneurs who want to establish non-profit businesses and is delivered in three sessions. Session I discusses the legal and related aspects of forming and maintaining a non-profit organization; Session II is delivered as an interactive computer lab that covers the grants research and writing process; and Session III is presented as a panel comprised of private- and public-sector grant-making executives and discusses the funding application and award process from the funder's perspective.

The Patents and Trademarks Workshop is a quarterly workshop targeted to entrepreneurs who wish to learn how to protect their company's brand, intellectual and similar assets and discusses the fundamentals of trademark, copyright and patent issues, as well as the handling of related disputes.

Loan origination and packaging WEDA / MAWBC is an SBA Technical Assistance Provider and originates and packages SBA-guaranteed Community Express micro-loans of up to $100,000 on behalf of Innovative Bank (Oakland, CA) and Business Loan Express (Panama City, FL).

Mentoring matches WEDA / MAWBC clients with experienced business owners and corporate executives who provide guidance and support, either one-on-one or in small groups, to start-up entrepreneurs.

Technical Assistance (one-on-one business counseling) is provided to clients needing assistance with one or more specific business issues.