If Carol Malysz understands the challenges her clients at the Center for Women and Enterprise face, it’s because she’s walked in their shoes. “I’ve lived the life of my clients,” she said. “When I had my own business, I didn’t have my own network. It’s a lonely way to exist.”
Today, Malysz helps others through the center, whose new Jewelry District location at 55 Claverick Street will offer its first course – with more to follow – later this month.
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“What’s so exciting about this is I got to start from nothing and build a solid foundation,” said Malysz on a tour of the center.
Indicating a large glass-walled training room in the middle of the office, Malysz said, “We wanted the client to be the focus of the center, so we put them in the middle.”
The new facility will provide what Malysz refers to as “one-stop shopping” for clients, including a business information center with 16 computers donated by Fidelity Investments and offices for representatives from the Small Business Administration (SBA), Rhode Island Small Business Development Center (RISBDC) and the Service Core of Retired Executives (SCORE).
The center will be supported by a five-year grant from the SBA and sponsorships by the Rhode Island Foundation and Fleet Boston Financial.
“I want the women who come into the center to become business and financially savvy,” Malysz said. “The sense of camaraderie is going to be very energizing – we’ll work together as a team.”
Having representatives from so many organizations in the same place will have other advantages as well.
“It will save on money, gas, time,” she said. “It will be a much more pleasant process for them, and much more efficient.”
The Center for Women and Enterprise (CWE) was founded in Boston in 1995 by Andrea Silbert with the mission to “empower women to self-sufficiency and economic prosperity through entrepreneurship,” Malysz said.
Silbert subsequently opened an additional location in Worcester. Malysz became involved with the center as a founding member of the Economic Development Corporation’s planning team to bring CWE’s Power Up class to Providence through the SBA.
Operating out of the SBA’s office, Malysz officially opened the CWE’s Providence branch. Since January, the center has offered four Power Up sessions, counseled 59 women and assisted new business owners in obtaining a half a million dollars in loans.
Malysz said getting the center off the ground is reminiscent of her experiences establishing her own marketing consulting business.
“I’ve lived, seen the circumstances my clients are living, and I’m reliving it as I build this center,” she said. “Learning to access resources in order to get started is something that we teach clients here, but also something that we’re living.”
One vital resource for Malysz as she’s worked to bring her plans for the CWE to fruition is the volunteer force of local businesspeople and Power Up graduates.
“Without all the people who have volunteered their time, I couldn’t do this,” said Malysz. “They’ve been terrific.”
One volunteer, Adetola Abiade, who soon will assume the position of CWE’s marketing coordinator, is a graduate of the center’s Power Up class.
Power Up is a 10-week course for entrepreneurs who either plan to start a business or are in the process of growing and already existing business. Participants develop a business plan and company strategy, as well as are provided with business contacts and a support network of peers.
“It’s a very personal experience,” Abiade said. “It helps you to relieve your fears about the unknown – ‘Where do my skills and personality fit?'”
“Before, I had to do a lot of my own career counseling,” she said. “It helped me to see my strengths, weaknesses, what my developmental goals need to be.”
Abiade also described Power Up as “a great networking place. Some people changed their business plans in the class as a result of the people they met in the class.”
Power Up alumni stay in touch through informal meetings once a month, continuing the connections initiated in the classroom.
“It’s one thing to have a class, but you have to have follow-up,” said Abiade.
And a single class in the 10-week Power Up course can involve more than just the week’s instructor.
“People donate food, equipment, printing – one class can be as many as 30 people collaborating,” Malysz said. “There are a lot of people working behind the scenes to make this successful – it’s a groundswell of support.”
A far cry from the days when Malysz was building her consulting business with no support network, today people come to Malysz to get connected.
“It’s very exciting for me because I’ve experienced it the other way,” she said. “You know those pictures where you see two views? It’s like I have my own before and after.”
