The saying goes: “The best time to obtain financial capital is before you need it.” The same goes for financial education and readiness.
All WBEs and Small Business Owners are highly encouraged to attend the WBENC LIFT new 3-part virtual series “Entrepreneur Financial Readiness” during April, Financial Literacy Month.
Running a business takes passion, vision, and resilience—but without financial know-how and consistent oversight, management and maintenance, your business won’t reach its full potential. Entrepreneurs need the knowledge, confidence, and resources to manage business finances wisely and to maintain a solid financial foundation for the future.
Join us to hear from experts and panelists providing insights into key CEO decisions to manage and grow your business through financial readiness and access to capital, brought to you by our partners at Bridge, KeyBank’s Key4Women program, and Pitney Bowes Financial Services.
April 2 – Identify the Right Capital Sources and uses for growth
April 16 – Build an Effective Finance Team that supports strategic decision making for your business’ growth.
April 23 – Cultivate Key External Relationships and how to leverage them to support your business financial readiness.
All sessions take place virtually on Wednesdays from 2:00-3:30 PM ET.
Whether you are a solopreneur, growing your team, or leading an organization, join us to learn essential financial management strategies to unlock your company’s growth potential. This series will provide insights on identifying the right capital sources, building effective finance teams, and cultivating key external relationships to fuel your entrepreneurial journey.
In our first session, “Identify the Right Capital Sources,” Andrew Gaeckle, Vice President of WBENC LIFT will kick off with an overview of the capital journey followed by a deep dive Q&A with Christopher Johnson, President, Global Financial Services at Pitney Bowes, on the importance of aligning your business strategy and goals with your capital investments. To close the session, Rohit Mathur, CEO of Bridge, along with two Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) partners, will demystify the lending process. Get practical tips and insights on preparing a compelling loan application for your business, understand what commercial lenders are looking for in loan requests, and learn how to make your business “bank ready.”
Our following two sessions will be led by Hannah Smolinski, CEO and Founder of Clara CFO Group. “Building an Effective Finance Team,” will dive into the strategic role of financial management and how to develop an effective accounting and finance team to support your critical business decisions. Hannah will guide attendees through essential financial management deliverables CEOs should expect of their finance team with insights from a panel of women entrepreneurs sharing lessons from their own financial management journey.
Closing out the series, Hannah will be back for “Cultivate Key External Relationships,” why identifying and creating external strategic relationships are vital for your financial readiness and growth. You’ll hear from a panel representing the most common of these critical professional relationships — a Banker, an Accountant, an Insurance Agent and Lawyer a.k.a. your “B.A.I.L. Team” –– who will share insights on how they help entrepreneurs critically think through financial management, access to capital and risk mitigation strategies. Included among our panel will be Erin Ressa, VP Business Banking Relationship Manager with KeyBank and advisor to KeyBank Key4Women program.
