Eva Brown is the director of the Access to Capital Program at the Women’s Business Development Center. The Women’s Business Development Center is a nonprofit women’s business assistance center. The center provides business development services to prospective and established women entrepreneurs. As the director of the Access to Capital Program, Brown helps business owners identify the appropriate sources of capital for their businesses and loans money directly to small business owners.
Brown explains how she got into the nonprofit sector, “One of my old bosses, [from the business sector], moved over to nonprofit because that was her philanthropic goal. She recruited me to come over because she thought that giving might be something I would enjoy.”
Philanthropy was something Brown always wanted to do. She originally worked as a commercial lender, providing loans to small business clients on the south side of Chicago. “When I was a banker I was always placed on the south side or south suburbs, which are sometimes categorized as low to moderate income areas,” Brown says. “It was a challenge, because I was paid to make loans, and it was hard getting loans approved in general, but more so in those communities.”
The Women’s Business Development Center allows Brown to do what she loves, while helping thousands of women build their businesses.
“This role gave me the opportunity to apply the skills that I learned from working in banking and then applying it to the nonprofit sector, so it’s really gratifying,” says Brown.
The Women’s Business Development Center offers a wide range of services such as workshops, seminars, programs, counseling, and more. Because of all the services, Brown is able to work with a plethora of business owners and share the knowledge that she has learned from her banking experience. “It’s actually gratifying to be able to share that experience, especially with the younger business owners that are looking for guidance.”
To learn more about The Women’s Business Development Center, visit www.WBDC.org.
