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Camille Newman highlights free services for women entrepreneurs, announces $10,000 HSBC grant
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Summary
Camille Newman, director of the Brooklyn Women's Business Center at the Local Development Corporation of East New York, described the center's free workshops, one-on-one counseling and cohort training to help women scale businesses, and announced a $10,000 grant from HSBC for local applicants.
Camille Newman, director of the Brooklyn Women's Business Center at the Local Development Corporation of East New York, outlined services the center offers to help women entrepreneurs access capital and scale their businesses and announced a $10,000 grant funded by HSBC for local applicants.
The center, Newman said on the program, provides free workshops, one-on-one business counseling and help with certification for state or government contracting. "We're funded in part by the SBA," she said, adding that private donors also subsidize services so clients do not pay to participate.
Why it matters: Newman told listeners that access to capital remains a major obstacle for women launching and growing businesses. "Women are starting businesses twice the rate of men, but still only access less than 2% of funding," she said, a figure she presented as evidence of the funding gap (Newman did not provide a source for the percentage during the interview).
Supporting details: Newman described the center's one-on-one counseling—sessions that can last up to an hour—and an annual cohort that walks entrepreneurs through an executive summary and financial projections lenders expect. She said the center helps clients with financial literacy, preparing loan packages, applying for SBA loans, pursuing CDFI funding and writing grant proposals.
On practical business operations, Newman emphasized keeping business and personal expenses separate and recommended bookkeeping tools such as QuickBooks or Xero for early-stage operators. She also advised new business owners to "start small, start lean" and to show funders that they have personal financial commitment and traction.
Grant opportunity: Newman said the center has a $10,000 grant from HSBC intended for entrepreneurs in Brownsville, East New York, Cypress and Canarsie and directed interested applicants to brooklynwomen.org to learn more and reserve counseling sessions. She noted the program currently maintains a wait list because demand exceeds capacity.
Background: Newman spoke from personal experience: she said she previously ran a six-figure business, Pop Up Plus, which she closed in 2016 while seeking additional funding, and that she now operates a luxury-towels business called Body by Love.
Next steps: Interested entrepreneurs can find application details and schedule counseling at brooklynwomen.org. Newman encouraged community support through attendance, word-of-mouth and social sharing to help early-stage women-owned businesses build traction.
