1997: A First-Ever
The Women’s Business Center’s original purpose was to assist women to learn skills to start, run and grow their own businesses.  Before the WBC, there had not been a technical assistance center just for women entrepreneurs, and what an incredible thing this would be for women in Utah!

The Women’s Business Center joined the Small Business Development Centers and SCORE in providing entrepreneurs with counseling and training, but, with a staff of women, WBC offered support services with a woman’s- focus using their own empathy for women’s opportunities, wonderful talents, but also challenges, disadvantages and barriers, but also our grit, determination and Utahan’s deep-rooted sense of self-reliance and industry.  

The Salt Lake Chamber has accelerated their support of women business owners through these years. WBCUtah propels women in Utah by encouraging and serving women in entrepreneurship.

Utah’s Women's Business Center offices are a part of a national network of nearly 150 entrepreneurship centers throughout the United States and its territories, which are designed to assist women in starting and growing small businesses. 

WBCs seek to "level the playing field" for women entrepreneurs, through free, to low-cost counseling and training, who still face unique obstacles in the business world.

The WBC Program is funded by congress and the Association of Women’s Business Centers provides our center with a national voice and resources for igniting the economic power of women’s entrepreneurship by advocating for, engaging, and supporting us.

SBA helps women entrepreneurs launch new businesses and compete in the marketplace, and provides a number of resources for women-owned businesses including business training and counseling (through WBCs), federal contracts, and access to credit and capital.

The Salt Lake Chamber recognized a great need for women-focused services for entrepreneurs in Utah. Ramona Rudert, then Chamber COO, wrote the initial grant proposal to the SBA for a Women’s Business Center in Utah, and with the help of Jean Fox and SBA and others, submitted the strongest application possible. The WBC Project grant was awarded to the Salt Lake Chamber and Ramona served as the first director of the Women’s Business Center which opened for services in fall 1997.

There was excitement for this new center and what it could do for women business owners. The first funders and supporters were:

• Bank One

• American Express

• And Utah Technology Finance Corporation

Many women, owners of micro, small and larger businesses, put their support behind, advised and assisted the Women’s Business Center. Women like Lorraine Miller of Cactus and Tropicals, Margo Provost of Log Haven, Marilyn Tang, of Certified Handling Systems, Mary Clark with Western Airlines, Laura Boardman of Boardman Design, And many others.

Because of the Chamber’s and local support, and hard working team, the WBC was successful from the very beginning. The SBA viewed the Salt Lake Chamber Women’s Business Center as a successful model for WBCs.

Ramona’s priority was to help women be successful in their businesses and to see themselves as actual business owners. The center worked diligently to assist women in developing competitive businesses that could access capital, and grow and create jobs. Nancy Mitchell, who had been the president of NAWBO (National Association of Women’s Business Owners) in Salt Lake City, was brought to the WBC as the assistant director. She was excited to join the team! The long-running Women & Business Conference became a fundraiser for the WBC, thanks to the Salt Lake Chamber, and helped add to the number of people WBC trained in their reporting to SBA

1999 - 2009: Nancy Mitchell Era

After a few years Ramona returned to operating her own business and Nancy took over the WBC and led the center for more than eight years focusing on entrepreneurial training and counseling for women.  

The WBC started 30 Women to Watch with the assistance of Utah Business Magazine and the Summer Social began as an annual fundraiser in August each year.

Without enough room at the chamber offices, the WBC relocated to an offsite space on Main Street, when Harry Potter was all the rage, and then later to the current Salt Lake Community College building on 4th South across from The City Library. 

Nancy was laser-focused on making sure women entrepreneurs received assistance in registering their legal entities and writing compelling business plans that had potential for success. This  was not a 9-to-5 job. Nancy’s small team did some of everything to ensure they helped as many women as possible. A weekly evening intro to WBC session was held on Thursdays. Nancy intentionally hired diverse staff and was effective at connecting with and serving women from many different communities including refugees, Hispanic, Black and Asian and collaborated with influential groups such as the NAACP.

In the early 2000s, the Internet was new and WBC provided training and assistance so women business owners could understand what it was and how to use it to promote their businesses.  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for businesses in the twenty first century was another focus for training and individual assistance.  Volunteer subject matter experts were integral in providing an expanding variety of training topics and sessions. The Salt Lake Chamber’s Business Women’s Forum was overseen by the center, also providing training opportunities.

The center was successful, and respected.

2008-2010: Lavanya Mahate Era
Lavanya Mahate, who had been on the WBC team for nearly 8 years, became the third director in May of 2008. At that time the WBC returned to the Salt Lake Chamber offices. Consulting services had temporarily been contracted to Salt Lake Community College’s Women’s Business Institute, but were brought back in-house when Pamela Okumura was hired as a full-time consultant. Lavanya provided a fresh environment of resourcefulness and assistance.

In 2010, Lavanya left WBC to start her spice and restaurant company and Pam was promoted to director. She led the center from 2010-2013, ensuring consistency in programming and continued to develop partnerships and true collaboration with other business resource providers in Utah.

2010-2013: Pam Okumura Era

Pam created organized systems that helped the center to increase productivity and impact on women business owners. She created Jump Start and branded WBCs training “Business Essentials.” The WBC and our brother organizations, SBDCs and SCORE received the SBA’s first national Collaboration Award for their work together on Entrepreneur Launch Pad, which was a network of entrepreneurial groups providing a “hands on” approach to helping each other build successful businesses. They traveled to Washington, D.C. to accept this award.

Pam led the effort, with the assistance of Gretta Spendlove with Durham Jones and Pinegar (now Denton Durham Jones Pinegar), to file for and receive 501(c)(3) nonprofit status from the IRS in April 2011. This was a pivotal move for the WBC’s status and fundraising efforts. 

After Pam’s departure, Ann Marie Wallace, business consultant, was promoted to director in 2013, and she continued the legacy of high-quality consulting and training.

2013 - Present: Ann Marie Wallace Era
Within a year of her promotion she learned that, as the only WBC in Utah, the WBC’s service territory was the whole state and not just those that could drive to their downtown Salt Lake City office.

Having grown up and been educated in rural Utah, Ann Marie set statewide services as a HIGH PRIORITY. 

• In 2014 she added a voting board position for a client, rotating each year.

• In 2015 WBC awarded their first Woman Entrepreneur of the Year and have done so each year since.

• WBC’s three-person team, with no turn over from 2014-2018, was a staple in the entrepreneurship services community: Deb, Deborah and Ann Marie.

In collaboration with Karin Palle with Utah Women’s Networking Group, Kathy Ricci with Utah Microloan Fund and Kathryn Christiansen with My Business Bar, WBC helped launch the Women’s Entrepreneurial Conference which funded a Grant Competition, and since 2017, has awarded $124,550 to 76 women business owners from around the state through a pitching competition, including mentorship on how to pitch for money.

WBC also launched a wildly popular Foodtrepreneur Festival, a local food product tasting and networking event for food entrepreneurs and wannabes. The name was LONG, but it stuck. The first year’s attendance was more than 300, double the goal for attendance. Utah’s foodie community is incredible!

2016: Going Statewide

n 2016, WBC launched their annual International Women’s Day Celebration in collaboration with the World Trade Center Utah. This marked the beginning of their work with Derek Miller. With a small team of 3 and no extra funding for travel or additional services in rural Utah, Ann Marie, mentored by Ryan Evans, Salt Lake Chamber Vice President of Business and Community, developed a plan to serve beyond the Wasatch Front. WBC focused on partnerships and collaborations with anchor organizations in rural counties, specifically utilizing the Salt Lake Chamber’s relationships and connection to Chambers of Commerce.

WBC contracted with My New Enterprise, based in Utah, to license “Build Your Dream Company” and worked closely with Mike Glauser, its owner, who graciously allowed the host videos to be replaced with an actual Utah woman business owner, Amanda Jones, and the script tweaked to Ann Marie’s preferences. 

Although the WBC had the top center menu button the Salt Lake Chamber’s website, with massive web traffic, WBC launched its first independent, training-based website, WBCUtah.com (later changed to .org) on July 5, 2016, with the help of a new team member in a new position, Valkyrie Johnson, responsible for the center’s digital media.

With new funding from American Express and an AmeriCorp VISTA project, providing 2 full-time volunteers, WBC was able to fill the gaps of staffing and funding to go statewide. The first chamber to partner with the center was Jared Hamner, CEO of the Tooele County Chamber of Commerce, who was committed to helping women entrepreneurs in his county. 11 additional chambers of commerce signed Memorandums of Understanding, each creating a new page on their website for a “Virtual Women’s Business Center” which listed their local resources and featured a portal to WBCs new online training, which had been customized for Utah women entrepreneurs.

Nineveh Madsen, WBCUtah board member, appeared in the following video to announce to communities around the state that the Women’s Business Center was coming to their neighborhood. This video clip promoted a Launch event for each new Virtual WBC, which was called “Women Rock Business!”, hosted by the partnering Chamber, supported by WBC and funded by a grant from American Express.  Thirteen launch events were hosted within a year and a half, and attended by an astonishing 600 rural women!

By expanding the center's reach into new rural areas, the center ensured more women had knowledge of local resources and access to WBC’s online training, helping them learn new skills and be more bankable.

2019: Opening a Second Office

But, the dream would be to have a physical office in rural Utah. In January 2018 the WBC, with the support of the Salt Lake Chamber and SBA Utah District Office, applied for a competitive grant to fund a second office. It took six months to find Debbie Drake, with a name like Debbie, she fit right into the team, an incredible woman in Cedar City with decades of business ownership experience as well as being an educator. WBC’s Southern Office services began in November 2018, and the grand opening was held in January 2019.

With an office outside of the Wasatch Front, the name of the organization was officially changed from Salt Lake Chamber Women’s Business Center to Women Business Center of Utah, AKA WBCUtah.  This new name was representative of the reach to and the women the center seeks to serve; statewide!

WBCUtah was now serving Southern and Eastern like never before. Ms. Biz, WBCutah’s first cohort program, helped women launch new businesses. Also in early 2019, WBCUtah brought Kiva to Utah, which are 0% interest/no fee loans and established itself as a Kiva Hub bringing capital to the most under-funded businesses owners, namely women. 

In 2018, the Salt Lake Chamber opened a second office of the Women’s Business Center in Cedar City. The Chamber has truly been the instigator of many impactful initiatives and programs, leading the way to prosperity, but importantly fanning the flames of opportunity for women and many other underserved  groups.  The WBCUtah is lucky to be hosted by Utah’s longest-running, premier business leader and our state’s largest and most influential chamber of commerce.

From 1997 to 2018, ALL services were done in-person; training was held typically at the Salt Lake Chamber offices and the Southern Utah University’s Business Resource Center.  To better track our clients participation WBC finally, implemented a first-time-ever CRM, MemberZone, and began uploading digital forms to the SBA reporting portal.
Another WBCUtah DREAM was to offer services virtually.

2020: COVID-19 Pandemic & Introduction of Cohorst
Sometimes dreams come true in ways you didn’t expect. Just one year later, while Ann Marie was on maternity leave, a worldwide pandemic hit, and WBCUtah pivoted instantly to provide all services virtually. The Zoom account that had connected the team members in two offices, 254 miles apart, for meetings, was now also used to provide one-on-one advising sessions and group training statewide. SBA kicked into HIGH GEAR providing PPP and IDLE Loans and expedited CARES Act grants to WBCs to build their capacity and provide timely services to help women business owners stabilize and survive COVID-19. WBCUtah received $702,000 in addition to their the annual grants and:

WBCUtah invested CARES Act funding to accelerate stabilizing and recovery services for Utah’s women business owners suffering from the economic effects of the global health crisis.

WBCUtah invested CARES Act Funds on:

• A Rapid Response Team of nearly 20 people helping respond to a flood of inquiries about PPP and EIDL Loans

• Upgrading their CRM

• as many as 7 contract business advisors at one time to keep up with demand for one-on-one advising

• 20 laptops which were lent out to organizations across the state to provide digital equity for business owners

• “Women-Owned” window cling for business owners

• A photo campaign, sending 2 women photographers across the state who photographed Utah women business owners in every county. WBCUtah’s stock of photos are 100% real Utah women business owners you can find, say hello to and buy from

AND, COVID taught us what women and mothers have ALWAYS known… work does and can be done in the home. WBCUtah was awarded SBA’s 2020 Women’s Business Center of Excellence Award for Utah and Region 8 (which includes Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming).

During this time, WBCUtah created a second cohort program, Next Step, using a customized curriculum created in-house to help women business owners with at least 1 employee improve their operations and financial management. Which has graduated nearly 100 women business owners in 6 cohorts.

With the professional assistance of Elle Marketing and Events, launched the Utah Women-Owned Business Directory at utahwomenowned.com, a first-ever inclusive directory of Utah businesses owned and operated by women.

And, the directory has reached more than 2,000 listings.

WBCUtah was again awarded SBA’s 2022 Women’s Business Center of Excellence award for Region 8.

In 2022, WBC launched a 3rd cohort program called “Minding My Own Business” in collaboration with New Pattern Utah and Sorenson Impact Center, developed with solopreneurs in mind (an owner who runs her business without any employees), which has already produced 63 graduates in just 2 cohorts.

In addition to our two offices, four team members are remote making an additional four communities of influence.

To those who have worked and volunteered for and collaborated with WBCUtah, thank you for believing in our mission to help owners learn a little faster, avoid costly mistakes, and take each one of them seriously. The strength of this organization is the incredible women whose passion drives the services and advancement of our mission forward. WBCUtah would not exist without the Salt Lake Chamber; our biggest advocate and supporter.

Our vision of the future:

We see our daughters, nieces, granddaughters and great-granddaughters, here in Utah, starting and growing their own companies WITHOUT BARRIERS, receiving world-class support and helpful resources to develop and use skills to run HIGHLY PROFITABLE BUSINESS, provide well for their families and actualize their entrepreneurial aspirations.

The UtahWomenOwned.com directory will have more than 5,000 listings and be used by individuals, families and businesses to find, promote, buy from, support and lend to Utah’s incredible women-owned businesses.

The next step in this vision will be later on in 2023 when WBCUtah implements a Learning Management System (LMS), which will integrate our core services on a cloud-based platform, allowing us to track the use of our elearning, and progress of individual clients by our advisors. It will truly take us into the generation of WBCUtah.

We are working more strategically than ever before to build reach, serve and advocate for Utah women business owners!