TULSA, Okla. — Patience Gitau is a woman on a mission — a registered nurse and mother of two who launched two businesses in the past six months.
"I am a nurse by trade so a lot of the business world and aspect is new to me," said Patience Gitau, RN and entrepreneur. "So they have just been helping me go in the right direction and have a strong foundation for my business."
After working for the past several years caring for COVID and hospice patients at a major Tulsa hospital, Gitau said she felt burned out and decided to launch an idea she had been considering. She turned to the Greenwood Women's Business Center for advice on launching her companies, Nurse on Demand Staffing and Nurse on Demand Mobile COVID Testing.
"Prior to getting in contact with them, I tried other resources that were supposed to help small business owners and they all led to dead ends," she said.
Opening up potential dead ends for women entrepreneurs in north Tulsa is the focus of the new center which officially opened Wednesday with the support of the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc., USBC Community Economic Development Corporation, and the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce as well as financial support from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
"We're going to equip the community for success — making dreams reality. That's what Greenwood is all about... pulling those dreams off the shelf and making them a reality," said Gary Breekner, Greenwood Chamber of Commerce Vice President.
The Greenwood Women’s Business Center offers advice and training on business planning and funding, grants, HR, taxes, accounting and legal issues to name a few. Administrators said they plan to offer in-person and online training needed to get future business owners like Gitau up and running.
Gitau told 2 News Oklahoma anchor Karen Larsen she plans to keep growing her business, and she encourages other entrepreneurs to not go it alone.
"With this resource, I know that I'll have a backup," she said. "There hasn't been a question that I've asked where they haven't given me an answer or led me to the answer. If you are a woman, definitely this should be your first stop."
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