With over 12 million women-owned businesses in the United States, according to data compiled by Fundera, the state of women entrepreneurship in America is strong and nothing is really pointing to a deceleration in this trend in the near future.
That said, it is important to note that only 25% of those companies actively seek external financing – whether through equity or debt – and the reason for this is not necessarily because they don’t need it, as, instead, it could be a sign that women-led businesses often struggle to secure funding for their ventures.
This situation is perhaps better illustrated by the meager 2% of funds from venture capital firms that went to women-founded businesses in 2019, highlighting how there could be a negative bias toward female entrepreneurs when it is time for them to raise capital.
In this context, one of the small business grants for women mentioned by Camino Financial could be a good alternative for female entrepreneurs seeking to raise money for their companies and, in the following article, we will discuss how grants specifically can be quite helpful when building a new business from scratch.
What is a small business grant for women and how does it work?
A grant can be easily explained as a “gift with a purpose”.
In practice, grants can either be a certain amount of money extended to an entrepreneur or they can also be offered in-kind – for example, from a big company that offers a service that the entrepreneur has to pay for to move forward with his business idea.
The purpose of these grants is to help new or existing companies in advancing their business models and there are multiple public and private organizations in the United States that currently offer small business grants for women to keep motivating female entrepreneurs in launching and promoting their ventures.
For entrepreneurs, the top benefit of receiving a grant is not having to repay the money – which is what makes it different from other sources of funding such as loans and lines of credit.
Meanwhile, certain grant issuers often add value to their grants by offering guidance, advice, services, and other similar elements to the recipient of the grant to further boost the positive impact of the gift beyond the financials.
Are there any other alternatives?
Small business grants for women are a great tool for early-stage businesses but they may fall short when it comes to fulfilling the capital needs of more mature ventures.
When this happens, female entrepreneurs can turn to the emerging ‘fintech’ industry to overcome the hurdles of securing funding through other forms of financing.
In this regard, companies like Camino Financial have expedited the process of applying and getting approved for a small business loan by reducing wait times through technology. By using artificial intelligence, websites, online forms, and other similar features, they have eliminated virtually all of the paperwork required when applying for one of their loans, while speeding up the approval process to as little as 24 hours in some cases.
These loans are offered at competitive interest rates starting at 1% per month and they can be repaid in 24 to 60 months depending on the amount and type of loan selected.
Moreover, Camino Financial and other online loan providers have also slashed other fees and penalties to keep borrowing costs in check for female entrepreneurs, while imposing less strict requirements to qualify as an eligible candidate.
So, if you have already exhausted your options when it comes to grants or your business has already moved past the stage at which grant funds are enough, you can go to their website and apply for a small business loan as soon as convenient.
