Mentoring program aids women-owned businesses

Nancy Roach "needed people to brainstorm with." She found them when her business, Westmont-based Strada Real Estate Services, Inc., was accepted into the ATHENAPowerLink mentoring program.

Bonnie Richtman needed help understanding financial information. She's getting her help in a similar ATHENAPowerLink program.

The downside is that Roach and Richtman are among the relatively few women who have found ATHENAPowerLink. Intended by the Chicago-based Athena Foundation to provide mentoring to women business owners, there are just 27 programs nationally - and only two in the Chicago area. One, where Roach connected, is hosted by the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, a non-profit affiliate of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.

The other is a new ATHENAPowerLink program hosted by the Small Business Development Center at College of Lake County, Grayslake. That's Richtman's home.

Acceptance into the program is far from automatic. Of the requirements that must be met - www.athenafoundation.org; click power link, then women business owners - two seem especially important:

• The requirement for clearly defined goals apparently means clearly defined goals. Arlene Martin, a National City Corp. banker who was an enabling force behind the Lake County ATHENAPowerLink program and still is chair even though she has been transferred to Oak Creek, Wisc., points out that Richtman "did one of the best business plans. She had quite a few goals."

• Not on the criteria list but clearly a factor is the applicant's willingness to accept advice.

Jasmine Moore, CEC's ATHENAPowerLink program director, says that mentored companies "must be open to advice. We look for companies that are poised for growth and whose (owners) are proactive about seeking advice."

Joanne Osmond, president of Market Drafters Inc., a Lake Villa web design company and the person in line to succeed Martin as chair of the Lake County program, says, "We look for (a business owner) who is willing to learn from others, who is open to learning and growing."

Being mentored by advisers with capabilities that match your business' needs seems to be worth the application effort. Roach's mentors "helped me identify where my time would be best spent" - the type of input she was missing because "I didn't have (in 2005) the luxury of a board of directors or senior-level people."

Richtman, co-owner and president of Grayslake Rehabilitation and Complete Physical Therapy, LLC, says the advice she has received "has given me confidence - and people to call when I hit a bump." Especially important to Richtman has been assistance choosing software "that shows on a screen, not in a spreadsheet," what she can and cannot do financially.

The CEC program accepts six to eight businesses into its ATHENAPowerLink program each year; applications are due in March, June and September. The SDBC at College of Lake County is accepting applications for its second mentored company until Sept. 26.

Questions, comments to Jim Kendall, JKendall@121MarketingResources.com.

© 2008 121 Marketing Resources, Inc.