Women’s Business Center launches women-owned business directory

A directory of women-owned businesses in Utah — hailed as the first of its kind in the state — has been launched.

The Women’s Business Center of Utah (WBCUtah) unveiled the directory at UtahWomenOwned.com as a free resource in support of Utah’s small-business community.

“The pandemic has disproportionately impacted women-owned businesses more than the average business due to the industries they are involved in, the lack of access to capital and childcare,“ said Ann Marie Wallace, WBCUtah’s state director.

“We believe it is important to support women-owned businesses, and the economy in general, by encouraging people and organizations to buy women-owned, promote women-owned, to mentor them, and invest in them.”

At an online event to mark International Women’s Day in March, Wallace mentioned that such a women-owned business directory was in the works “because it’s important to know where they are and who they are so we can support them.”

WBCUtah said the directory will showcase women-owned businesses in Utah, serve as a tool to support those businesses, and assist in locating businesses and facilitating collaboration with other businesses.

The directory will list for-profit businesses that are women-owned and operated, including home-based businesses, “solopreneurs,” side businesses, brick-and-mortar, online, e-commerce, service-based or product-based businesses, and franchise businesses.

Among businesses that will not be in the directory are those that are women-owned but without the owner running the business or making day-to-day decisions, and businesses affiliated with MLM or network marketing companies.

The directory is searchable  by both city and county throughout the state, making it both localized and easy to locate women-owned businesses across industries, WBCUtah said.

Creation of the directory was funded by federal money through the CARES Act from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

The directory permits its listed businesses to get further support from the Women’s Business Center of Utah through training, business counseling and other resources.

“There is no membership required to be in the directory or our organization,” Wallace said. “It is free to any women-owned business in the state. Promoting this list will help us recover from the pandemic. Women in Utah do well at running businesses, and this is an opportunity for us to promote those businesses to our communities that would support them if they knew where to find them.”

WBCUtah is a nonprofit organization with a statewide mission to help Utah women build confidence, create opportunities, and experience business ownership success through business advising and entrepreneurial skills training. The center has offices in Salt Lake City and Cedar City, is online at wbcutah.org, and has a dozen virtual centers hosted on chamber of commerce websites. WBCUtah is funded in part through a cooperative agreement between the Salt Lake Chamber and the SBA.