The University of Georgia Small Business Development Center has scheduled a seminar to help woman-owned businesses succeed.

Women Impacting Business will run for three hours Tuesday at the Featherbone Communiversity. Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce president Kit Dunlap is a featured speaker.

Dunlap will serve on a panel with Dawson County Chamber of Commerce President Linda Williams.

“I wanted to bring women to the table that had experience in the business arena for some time,” Program Coordinator Dede Gossage said. “They’d been exposed to decision making, they’d been exposed to working for people as well as managing others, and had made a lifetime career of wanting to influence the business environment and both of these women have done that,”
Moderator Cindy Wilson from SunTrust Banks will ask panelists a number of questions about their experiences in the business world.

“We tried to cover a wide gambit of needs. The first hour is more inspirational and informative,” Gossage said.

Following the discussion, Lanelle Henderson, a marketing strategist from Atlanta, will present ways to market small businesses.

“People are looking for ways to sustain their business right now,” Gossage said.

The seminar costs $35 and includes a boxed dinner.

The last hour of the event will be reserved for networking and will feature 30 vendors promoting their businesses.

But Gossage said the event isn’t just for business owners.

“If you work in the business environment, this seminar is for you,” Gossage said.

As more and more people are laid off, interest in starting new businesses has increased.

“A lot of people are looking for a way to take control of their lives. So they’re very interested in doing something different,” Gossage said.

Being a woman also can be a benefit for small-business owners.

“If you are a certified woman-owned business, it actually leverages you to a completely different level of opportunity to do business with some of these larger organizations,” Gossage said.

Consultants will be available at the seminar to help women walk through the certification process.

Gossage said one of the best ways to help the economy is to support small-business owners.

“Entrepreneurship is still the backbone of this economy,” Gossage said. “We want to encourage capitalism and free market enterprise. ... If we’ll just continue to help the small-business owners, the economy will eventually turn around.”