where can i find grants to open a small business?

I am a lesbian trying to start my own business. I know ther are grants out there for women entrepreneurs, but i am not having success in finding any.

You are not having success in finding any because there aren't any.

It is hard to find grants to start a business. Unlike the myths that some perpetuate, federal government and even private foundations hardly give grant money for a for-profit business. And yes, grants mean PAPERWORK - lots and lots of it, that is why a cottage industry of grant writers was born.

Nonetheless, you can go to the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) http://www.cfda.gov and Grants.gov http://www.grants.gov - these are two sites created by the federal government to provide transparency and information on grants. Browse through the listings and see if you can find any grant that would support a for-profit venture.

Even if you buy books on "how to get grants" or list that supposedly has information on grants -- all of them are mere rehash of what CFDA has, albeit packaged differently. But still the info is the same - hardly any grants for starting a for profit business.

Even SBA does NOT give out grants. From the SBA website http://www.sba.gov/expanding/grants.html...

"The U.S. Small Business Administration does not offer grants to start or expand small businesses, although it does offer a wide variety of loan programs. (See http://www.sba.gov/financing for more information) While SBA does offer some grant programs, these are generally designed to expand and enhance organizations that provide small business management, technical, or financial assistance. These grants generally support non-profit organizations, intermediary lending institutions, and state and local governments."

Most of the federal grants are given to specific target groups with specific requirements (e.g. minority business owners involved in transportation related contracts emanating from DOT - Grant#20.905 Disadvantaged Business Enterprises Short Term Lending Program

Grants are also often given to non profit groups or organizations involved in training or other similar activities (grant 59.043 Women's Business Ownership Assistance that are given to those who will create women's business center that will train women entrepreneurs

For private grants, you may want to check the Foundation Center's Foundation Grants for Individuals Online. It's a subscription based website ($9.95 per month) but their opening blurb only says that the database is ideal for "students, artists, academic researchers, libraries and financial aid offices." Entrepreneurs are apparently not one of them, so I take it they also don't have listings of private foundations who give grants to would-be entrepreneurs.

Women Entrepreneurs

Women Entrepreneurs

project on Problems faced by Women Entrepreneurs in India?

i need it with intoduction,methodology, conclusion, ref..etc..please help me... links will be better ...[:)]

THESE ARE SOME PROBLEMS -

The study was planned with the following objectives:

To portray a profile of women entrepreneurs and their enterprises in the small scale sector;
To explore gender differences in entrepreneurial characteristics;
To identify problems unique to women in setting up and running their enterprises;
To document existing policies, programmes, institutional networks and the involvement of support agencies in promoting women's entrepreneurship.

Methodology

An extensive literature review of secondary data sources was undertaken as relevant to the

stated objectives of the study.

In order to fill in secondary data gaps on topics such as employment, investment and sectorwise distribution of women entrepreneurs, raw data was obtained from 14 States from the Offices of the Development Commissioner (SSI), Government of India. To supplement data obtained from secondary sources, a few case studies were obtained and incorporated in the report.

This study has been conducted within a short time frame. Thus the scope of the study is limited. Since secondary sources of data were relied upon it was difficult to maintain uniformity in sample size for comparative analyses of various aspects related to women entrepreneurs. Also, qualitative analysis has been used in the main, to arrive at conclusions rather than rigorous statistical analyses.

Women Entrepreneurs
Women Entrepreneurs: Debunking 3 Myths of Entrepreneurial & Work at Home Moms

Women Entrepreneurs

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