When a woman walks through the door of the WISE Women’s Business Center, she is greeted by a quote printed on the turquoise wall.

“Women changing the world… one venture at a time.”

But at first glance, it might not seem immediately obvious how. The center, located in the Tech Garden in downtown Syracuse, sits in a remodeled parking garage. Glass walls illuminate the Hotel Syracuse across the street, and cubicles partition the corner space. A few small counseling rooms line the back wall.

Director Joanne Lenweaver and Administrative Specialist Alex Waterbury quietly work in the office on a Friday morning. But the presence of other women is palpable. Laminated profiles and pockets of business cards line the walls — all the women who have started a successful business with the help of WISE.

Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship, or the WISE Women’s Business Center, provides workshops, expertise and support for female entrepreneurs. From 2015-16, Lenweaver and her team advised over 120 clients and trained over 1,000 of them.

Those women collectively have made more than $47 million in revenues, and their numbers can only grow. Over the past nine years, the number of women-owned firms has grown at five times the national rate, according to The American Express OPEN 2016 State of Women-Owned Business Report.

While a polarizing election — one that highlighted Trump’s comments toward women — divided the nation, female entrepreneurs at the center are remaining neutral in the face of the new presidency.

Lenweaver splits her time between meeting with clients and administration — the WBC is funded by the Small Business Administration and sponsored by the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University.

She joined the WBC in 2009 after working at nonprofits and running a design firm with her husband for 19 years. When Whitman interviewed her for the position, they asked why she was the right one for the job.

Lenweaver replied it’s because she’s made all the mistakes.

“When I started my business, I went to a counselor. There were no women’s business centers or anything like that,” Lenweaver said. “I went to a counselor, and he looked at me and said, ‘You know what, I don’t know how to help you.’ I didn’t even know what to ask after that.”

For over 10 years, the WISE Women Business Center has helped provide that support women might not even know they need. It has become a place where women can be heard, Lenweaver said.

While representation of women in business has improved dramatically since when Lenweaver first started her firm, it can be isolating when women start, she said, because they often work alone and at home. They aren’t networking and the prospect of working with others can be frightening. Organizations like WISE help in bridging that crucial support for female entrepreneurs.

For Pam Puri, WISE has helped her grow her business, Tech4Kidz, faster than she ever could have by herself. Puri started Tech4Kidz when researching programming classes for her kids, who were 4, 7 and 9 years old at the time. All the classes she had found were geared toward older kids.

She began by teaching students in an afterschool program at the local elementary school. But soon families from other districts were interested, and Tech4Kidz now offers nine courses and teaches at Le Moyne on the weekends. WISE has provided support for Puri to brainstorm and bounce ideas, strategically plan and network.

“(We) face a lot of the same struggles and hurdles and obstacles and challenges, and so it’s great to meet up with (other women) on the regular basis facing the same things,” Puri said.

But the environment that WISE fosters isn’t competitive, said Jennifer Walls, co-owner of The Sweet Praxis. If all businesses are doing well, Walls said, it gives people a reason to come and results in increased business for everyone.

Frankie Prijatel | Staff Photographer

WISE supported The Sweet Praxis as it expanded from catering to a brick and mortar store in Armory Square last November. In advising sessions, Lenweaver gave Walls and business partner Natalie Hansen “homework” — she had them write down where they saw the business in a month, a year and five years into the future.

Lenweaver has helped women move beyond just the day-to-day and into long-term planning. One crucial question is the end game: When the women plan to close their business, whether that means selling it to a larger one, passing it on to children or another option.

“I always say to people — when they’re really launching — the day you open your business, I want you to tell me what it feels like to close the business,” Lenweaver said.

For Lenweaver, changing technology and a need to move on contributed to the end of her design firm. Now her firm is WISE, she said, where she can empower other women and help them take the risks she took as a young woman after college.

Tina Jacobs came to a class a few years ago, Lenweaver said, and was so shy that she couldn’t speak in class. Jacobs, a farmer and owner of Devine Gardens, had applied for a United States Department of Agriculture grant but didn’t get it.

She was disappointed and going to give up. But Lenweaver encouraged her to reach out to the agency, she said, where she found what she did wrong. With the help of Lenweaver, Jacobs boosted her marketing, increased her sales and improved her financial position. She reapplied and got the $30,000 grant.

“I wanted to cry,” Jacobs said. “I was so happy. I was so stunned.”

Jacobs is now using the money to redesign the branding on her website, where she sells vermicompost, a low-chemical, highly nutritious compost made by worms.

In the future, Lenweaver hopes the center can add staff members and help even more women begin their businesses and achieve goals like Jacobs did. Every month, hundreds of people enter the center and are brand new to entrepreneurship, she said.

When Lenweaver leaves the WISE Women’s Business Center every night, she’s struck by how it has already made a difference in so many people’s lives. As she turns off the lights, she leaves with a feeling of pride, and of satisfaction knowing she will do it all again the next day.

Published on February 7, 2017 at 9:09 pm

Contact Haley: hykim100@syr.edu