The digital tool provides women-owned small businesses resources to drive growth through business partnerships, building and refining leadership skills
Today, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the launch of two new educational modules. Ascent is a digital platform comprised of targeted education modules, called Journeys, that gives small business owners 24/7 access to critical information backed by research and addresses the unique needs of women entrepreneurs.
- Partnerships Journey: This module explores the value of business partnerships, why they matter, and how they drive business growth and has four components, including the value of business partnerships, opportunities, and strategic growth.
- Entrepreneurial Leadership Journey: This new module helps position small businesses for growth by building and refining leadership skills and has 11 components designed to build confidence and improve decision management and leadership style techniques.
“With the strong vision and action of Administrator Guzman, we continue advancing our entrepreneurial education experience through technology forward and timely online learning systems such as Ascent,” stated SBA Associate Administrator of the Office for Entrepreneurial Development Mark Madrid. “We look forward to announcing more educational initiatives to position our diverse small business ecosystems to thrive.
In 2021, the SBA’s Ascent platform launched and has assisted nearly 50,000 businesses, young entrepreneurs in writing business plans, business legal education, access to capital, and moving into the contracting space. Business recovery is also a valuable tool in the learning platform, which continues to support those impacted by the pandemic. This is part of the overarching support to women-owned businesses, including free business counseling to over 800,000 small business owners, billions of dollars in COVID economic relief, capital infusion, and government contracting last year.
“We know that women entrepreneurs start and own nearly half of all businesses in the United States and generate $1.8 trillion in revenue. They need a self-paced digital tool like Ascent to help them scale up and thrive,” stated SBA Assistant Administrator of the Office for Women’s Business Ownership, Natalie Madeira Cofield. “As Administrator Guzman has reinforced, opportunities for every woman aspiring to lead and grow our economy should be afforded to the greatest extent of our reach.”
For more information on Ascent, visit Ascent.SBA.gov and register for your free access today. For additional opportunities on how women entrepreneurs can start, grow and recover, visit SBA.gov or contact your local SBA District Office.
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About Ascent
Ascent offers eight essential journeys to assist women business owners with strategies toward growth and success, including Disaster & Economic Recovery, Strategic Marketing, Your People, Your Business Financial Strategy, Access to Capital, and Government Contracting. Each journey contains content and tools needed to grow your business. Additional topics will be added over time.
About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow, expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.