Kingsport Chamber to open women-focused entrepreneurship center | WJHL

KINGSPORT Tenn. (WJHL) — The Kingsport Chamber Foundation is set to launch a center supporting women entrepreneurs thanks to a federal grant.

The grant, funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Women’s Business Ownership, will support the launch of the Appalachian Highlands Women’s Business Center. Kingsport is one of 17 cities across the country to receive the grant.

“We are so thrilled to announce the formation of the Appalachian Highlands Women’s Business Center here in Kingsport, Tennessee, a critical new business entrepreneurship enterprise program that will be housed at your Kingsport Chamber,” Kingsport Chamber Chair and Executive Vice President Ted Fields said in a release.

The Women’s Business Center will provide training and counseling for women entrepreneurs, aid clients in securing federal contracts, and help them secure access to credit.

Aundrea Salyer, who leads Kingsport Chamber’s Kingsport Office of Small Business Development and Entrepreneurship (KOSBE), told News Channel 11 that she has already helped start dozens of female businesses and that she’s eager to get the Women’s Business Center off the ground.

“I’ve always been passionate, especially about helping women business owners,” Salyer said. “It was something that I brought up on my job interview 18 years ago. So for me, this is a big moment, all the women that will be able to serve with the program.”

Bellafina Chocolate Executive Director Jes Williams told News Channel 11 that the center would be a “huge resource” to people like her.

Though Ballerina is a nonprofit, Williams said it faces many of the same challenges of a business, relying on retail sales of chocolates to support their mission of empowering women and children.

“Just to know that there’s somebody that’s in my corner, that there is somebody that already has that knowledge and is able to sit down with me, listen to my problems, and be able to immediately connect me with things that I didn’t even know existed, it just gives you that extra bump of energy,” Williams said.

Officials at the Chamber say they hope by empowering women, they will give back to the community as well.

“The latest trends have shown that female business owners, they’re bringing more into that home budget than in the past,” Sayler said.

Bellafina’s Williams agrees.

“That’s the thing that I love so much about it,” Williams said. “I’ve seen like when you invest in women, how it changes the community.”

Salyer said the Chamber is working to hire a director for the Women’s Business Center before the center can officially open.

“For this to be successful, this is just the beginning, so we’re going to need to come up with our matching funds,” Salyer said.