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Natalie Madeira Cofield, assistant administrator, U.S. SBA Office of Women's Business Ownership, at Tuesday's virtual ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Updated: March 16, 2022
CEI opens third Women's Business Center with diversity in mind
Courtesy / CEI
From left, Sarah Guerette, director of the CEI Women's Business Centers; Diane Sturgeon, Maine district director for the U.S. Small Business Administration; Betsy Biemann, CEO of Coastal Enterprises Inc.; and Grace Mo-Phillips, program director of the new CEI Women's Business Center South, in Portland.
To expand outreach to Maine female entrepreneurs, particularly those from diverse racial, ethnic and LGBTQ+ backgrounds, Coastal Enterprises Inc. on Tuesday opened its third Women's Business Center in the state.
Based in Portland, the new CEI Women's Business Center South was inaugurated in a virtual ceremony. The event featured entrepreneurs already working with CEI Women's Business advisors and representatives from Common Threads of Maine, a Westbrook-based nonprofit training program for industrial stitchers that also supports textile entrepreneurship.
CEI's new center will focus on residents of York and Cumberland counties, while existing centers in Farmington and Machias will continue to serve southwestern and northeastern Maine, respectively. The centers provide free services and programming.
Tuesday's opening coincided with Equal Pay Day 2022, symbolizing how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned the previous year.
Referencing the gender-gap awareness event, Natalie Madeira Cofield, assistant administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Business Ownership in Washington, D.C., said, "You all couldn't have picked a. better day to do the grand opening" of the new center.
She also said that while female entrepreneurs continue to make less than their male counterparts, her office is nevertheless committed to ensuring all women have access to entrepreneurial opportunities.
Echoing that sentiment, Coastal Enterprises Inc. CEO Betsy Biemann reflected on what she learned about entrepreneurship from helping her aunt run a restaurant in Boston. Biemann began by working the cash register at age 10.
"I learned a huge amount of entrepreneurship from my aunt," Biemann recalled. "She was strong-willed, she was decisive, and she had a wicked sense of humor that came in handy" during busy lunchtime service.
Similarly, "women are a powerhouse for our economy, particularly today's small business economy,’ said Biemann, who was honored as a Mainebiz Woman to Watch in 2019.
The CEI Women's Business Center South expects to provide services to more than 2,100 women in its first five years, and help get more than 80 new businesses off the ground.
Sarah Guerette, director of CEI Women's Business Centers, said that adding a third center to CEI's offerings "gives us the opportunity to deepen our work with Black, brown, indigenous and entrepreneurs of color."
In addition to offering classes, peer group-based programs and one-on-one advice to aspiring and existing entrepreneurs, the new center is planning two new programs for individuals from underrepresented communities: a pavilion in collaboration with the New England Giftware & Specialty Food Shows, and a laptop loaner program for those with limited access to technology.
Grace Mo-Phillips, director of programming at the new CEI Women's Business Center South, said she's excited to know she can contribute to her communities.
"There are real challenges for women of color in business ownership, and that's where our work will come in," she said. "We want to meet them where they are in their entrepreneurial journey and provide them with the support they need to succeed."
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