Center for Women and Enterprise to hold free Small Business Bootcamp for local entrepreneurs in Worcester this Thursday

The Center for Women and Enterprise of Central Massachusetts (CWE) and Western Governors University will hold a free, two-hour Small Business Bootcamp in Worcester on Thursday, June 16, for people who want to start their own businesses.

The event will include sessions on getting your business started, hiring and retaining employees, leadership models and LinkedIn. There will also be a photographer on site to offer a limited number of free headshots.

“We thought, ‘What are the things that folks who maybe have started a small business or are thinking about it need to know?’” said Samantha Carr, digital marketing and program manager for CWE.

Carr said that in addition to the sessions, the event will include open networking time, something which the organization wanted to get back to after two years of not being able to offer in-person events due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When you own a small business, it can be so isolating,” she said. “At things like this where we can gather, you’re meeting people going through the same things you are, which is pretty unique.”

While the event is open to anyone. CWE focuses on empowering women and this event is meant to help them succeed economically. According to the organization, women in the United States lost more than 12 million jobs during the pandemic, and in Massachusetts, women are paid 81 cents for every dollar paid to men, putting the state 17th in the country for gender-based pay gaps.

The event will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at WorcLab, 44 Portland St., fourth floor. Click here for more information or to register.

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