Who do I contact about a business grant?

Question

Divorced mother of two looking to start a business. I have an esthetics license and I want to start a spa business.

Answer 1

Who do you contact about that which does not exist?

"Business grants" are a myth. Visit http://www.grants.gov/ and see for yourself. Last time I checked, there were about 2,000 government grants listed there. About 1,000 of them were in healthcare, another 500, in education.

Answer 2

If you are in the US, whether you are a single mother or a minority or a woman, it is hard to find grants to start a business

From the SBA website http://www.sba.gov/mostrequesteditems/CON_FAQ2.html

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"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."
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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.

Here is a listing of federal grants for small businesses. See if there is any available for individuals for starting a business -- THERE'S NONE.
http://12.46.245.173/pls/portal30/CATALOG.BROWSE_BENEF_RPT.show

Answer 3

My boyfriend went through investni they put him through a short course on how to start and manage your business - for qhich he got a certifcate. They also gave him a grant of £400.

learndirect-business.com may be helpful with courses etc.

This is a site run by the government in the uk for help to start up businesses

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1073858805&furlname=startingup&furlparam=startingup&ref=http%3A//www.google.com/search%3Fhl%3Den%26q%3Dstarting%2Cyour%2Cown%2Cbusiness%2Cgrants%2Cuk&domain=www.businesslink.gov.uk

Best of luck with that and i hope that it is very successful