CLEVELAND, Oct. 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- KeyBank is
helping women business owners across the nation by volunteering
1,000 hours to help provide the expertise and guidance they need to
succeed during National Women's Small Business Month. Approximately
200 Key4Women representatives are each spending five hours with
KeyBank clients who feel their business can thrive even more with
this extra guidance.
"Women business owners have shared that often the biggest
problem they face is that empty chair when they're looking for
advice," said Barb Smith, Director
of Key4Women. "We know the potential women have as business leaders
is unlimited. Our goal is to make sure our clients are on the right
path for their business by helping set goals and jointly
discovering solutions to exceed those goals. We're discovering what
financial wellness means to them and striving towards that."
A soon-to-be released Key4Women survey finds optimism among
women business owners is up compared to last year. In 2018, 67% of
owners surveyed say they were highly optimistic they would achieve
their business goals in the next twelve months. In 2019, that
number rose to 71%. Also, among those surveyed, 9 out of 10
plan to grow or expand their business within the next two
years.
Many women business leaders also believe within the next five
years, the proportion of women-owned businesses will be on the
rise.
- 54% of women believe the number of businesses owned by
men and women will be similar
- 27% say men will continue to own more businesses than
women
- 19% believe women will own more businesses
"We're being very specific and focused through this process.
Each business owner who takes part in this mentorship program is
assigned directly to a mentor meant specifically for their needs
and the growth they want to see," said Smith. "These aren't just
KeyBank representatives either. We're using all of our resources to
bring in mentors who are already in the business community,
entrepreneurs, or other types of community leaders." Key4Women's
mentorship program is available to any women business owners who
want the help and guidance. The program will run throughout the
month of October and mentoring sessions will continue through the
end of the year.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 36% of all businesses
in the U.S. are at least majority-owned by women. Among those
businesses, 99.9% are classified as small businesses. Key4Women has
been helping women business leaders reach their goals since being
established in 2005.
For more information, head online to
www.Key.com/1000hours
About KeyCorp
KeyCorp's (NYSE: KEY) roots trace
back 190 years to Albany, New
York. Headquartered in Cleveland,
Ohio, Key is one of the nation's largest bank-based
financial services companies, with assets of approximately
$144.5 billion at June 30, 2019.
Key provides deposit, lending, cash management, and investment
services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name
KeyBank National Association through a network of over 1,100
branches and more than 1,400 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range
of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as
merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity,
syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected
industries throughout the United
States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For
more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank is Member
FDIC. © 2019. KeyCorp. CFMA 191021-681315
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SOURCE KeyCorp