How to get business loans for women

In order to get a business loan as a woman, you have to meet certain criteria set up by SBA, but if you do so, there are funds set aside just for women owned businesses to help them succeed. The reason being that woman business owners are considered a minority or underserved community, and thus SBA works to help them get the representation and funding needed to help them compete with other businesses, succeed, create jobs, and bolster the economy.

In order to get a business loan for women set up by the SBA, you have to meet eligibility requirements. These are as follows:
1. You must be a for-profit business, and a profitable business.
2. You have to show that you have been in business for at least two years.
3. You have to have good personal and business credit history.
4. You can't have declared bankruptcy in the past 10 years.
5. You must be able to prove that you are a woman-owned small business. (A woman who works full time in regular business hours, with 51% or more ownership).

If you meet the eligibility requirements outlined above, you can contact a SBA lending partner to apply for a loan. In addition to loans, SBA has the WOSB program, or Women-Owned Small Business program that also helps women owned businesses to get government contracts. The WOSB program helps women know of and take advantage of the $27 billion in government contracts that are set aside specifically for WOSBs. This program increased WOSB federal contracting opportunities, and helps women get work from one of the world's largest employers, the federal government. It is estimated that the WOSB program could benefit approximately 684,000 companies.Of course, not every company is eligible.

In order to be eligible for the WOSB program, and take advantage of federal contracting opportunities you have to meet a few criteria. The first is to be a small business, defined by the SBA size standards for small businesses, which varies from industry to industry. Second, you have to be 51% owned by women, one or more. These women must be US citizens, and their ownership has to be unconditional, and direct.In addition, a woman must manage the day-to-day operations of the business, hold the highest officer position, and work full time. They must also work during normal business hours.

If your small business meets these conditions, you can not only get business loans for your WOSB, but may be given the opportunity to compete against other WOSBs for government contracts. To do this you have to show your eligibility by self-certifying, or having an SBA approved third-party certifier. You have to register your status with the Central Contractor Registrations, and Online Representations and Certifications Application. At this point you will be competing with other WOSBs and EDWOSBs for the government contracts and portion of the $27 billion dollars they hold.