SBA Offers $766K Grant to Support Women Entrepreneurs in Georgia

The U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) WBC Modernization Initiative FY26 Georgia, is providing funding to develop a statewide Lead Center for Women’s Business Centers (WBCs). This project seeks to enhance the coordination efforts of WBCs and increase the availability of resources for developing entrepreneurship for women entrepreneurs.

The Lead Center aims to facilitate the formation of coordinated statewide network, enhance service delivery and enable women business owners to get the necessary assistance in establishing and growing their businesses.

The maximum award is $766,218 with a minimum award starting from $1, and requires applicants to meet applicable cost-sharing or matching requirements.

Key Highlights:

• SBA offers up to $766,218 maximum award for Georgia’s WBC Lead Center
• Initiative aims to strengthen statewide support for women entrepreneurs
• Georgia nonprofits can apply with required cost-sharing or matching

The purpose of this model is to ensure that female entrepreneurs have continuous access to quality business counselling and training, technical assistance, and other resources to help launch and grow their ventures.

The program seeks to facilitate the development of women-owned businesses through improved coordination of services provided to them within the state. Core areas of emphasis are building of partnership relations between the Women’s Business Centers, distribution of resources in an equitable manner, and building sustainable business operations and assistance to women entrepreneurs.

In addition, this initiative aims to provide integrated services appropriate for local market environment through enhanced communication between the Lead Center and Service Centers.

Entrepreneurial support services include activities such as business planning, finance, marketing, technical expertise, mentoring, and business growth planning. The lack of coordination between various organizations providing support may hinder entrepreneurs from accessing these services effectively. Through coordination between Women’s Business Centers, this initiative seeks to expand availability of entrepreneurial resources, ensure that underserved areas receive the necessary attention, achieve equal distribution of services, and enhance the support provided to women entrepreneurs.

As part of the effort, the Lead Center will serve as the coordinating agency for the network of Women’s Business Centers in the state of Georgia, coordinating together with Service Centers for the development of an interconnected system of WBCs across the state.

The general model is aimed at balancing between statewide coordination and allocation of resources on the one hand, and provision of locally targeted services on the other hand.

The funding opportunity is available for eligible nonprofits operating within Georgia and possessing 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The potential applicants must demonstrate their capability of managing the opportunity, having appropriate leadership, resources and systems needed for working as the Lead Center and creating a network of Women’s Business Centers throughout the state.

It involves managing relations with the centers involved in the network, coordinating activities and resources, filling the gaps in services and providing statewide service delivery. At the same time, the applicants should possess all the required skills for meeting the cost-share/matching requirements and maintaining the proposed initiative.

Additionally, the application must also highlight how statewide coordination can support and supplement local responsiveness to ensure a more integrated and sustainable service network for women-owned enterprises.