Nell Merlino, Founder, President and CEO of Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence, the leading national not-for-profit provider of resources for women to grow their micro businesses into million $ enterprises, believes in women and their ability to expand our economy, improving the economic well being for all. "Women entrepreneurs…there’s no stopping us," says Nell. "I know this first hand from one of my proudest accomplishments – Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence. It’s been quite a ride and an amazing feeling of pride and satisfaction to have our organization create a variety of programs that have helped thousands of women grow their businesses. But, there’s still a lot more to be done to help the 10 million+ U.S. women entrepreneurs take their businesses to the million dollar level."
Nell explains that helping each other is the way to get ahead. "This year Count Me In expanded its services to provide even more women entrepreneurs with tools they need to improve their revenue. We’ve teamed up with Sam’s Club Giving Program to launch Urban Rebound, a program designed to help women with micro-businesses (making $50,000 or less in annual revenue) get on the fast track to growing their business to $250,000+ in annual revenues. Urban Rebound was launched in Los Angeles this past spring and will be expanding to Charlotte, NC and Detroit this Fall. Already 40 awardees have started the nine-month business growth intensive that uses a proven combination of professional business coaching and education, confidence building, and support from a strong community of peers to reach the $250,000 threshold quickly and sustainably."
"We also continue to work with our founding partner, American Express OPEN by once again offering our signature program, Make Mine A Million $ Business," says Nell. "Our next event is taking place in New York City on July 30-31, 2012. Hundreds of motivated women entrepreneurs will come together to learn from nationally renowned small business experts as well as pitch their businesses for a chance at a spot in Count Me In’s celebrated Business Accelerator Program, designed to help women business owners reach $1million+ in annual revenues within 18-36 months. It will be a memorable event as Awardees and Finalists from past years will also be recognized for their achievements in a CMI Homecoming Celebration."
Helping women grow their businesses is a number one priority. "While Count Me In was the first online micro-lender for women who had trouble gaining access to funding for their small businesses, we noticed that the loans provided were helping women entrepreneurs in the short term but they weren’t seeing actual business growth from it," says Nell. "Make Mine A Million $ Business was born from this problem and has since been helping women nationwide expand their companies. To date, 28% of Make Mine a Million $ Business Awardees have reached this goal. It’s clearer today than ever before that women entrepreneurs are becoming game changers for business as we know it in the twenty first century. Count Me In looks forward to helping women become an even more instrumental force in today’s business community."
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