Start a New Business in South Carolina
small business resources for women entrepreneurs
Being a business owner can be daunting, but you don't have to face it by yourself. I’m committed to helping you along the way - whether you’re just starting out or taking your business to the next level. That's why I’m sharing South Carolina business development resources to support women like you on your entrepreneurial journey.
This is by no means a complete list. It’s a helping hand and a place for you to start researching the best resources for your needs. I believe we all do better when we share information with each other. If you know of a resource that would help our community and you’d like me to add it to this list, please contact me. I’d love to hear from you!
South Carolina Government Agencies
South Carolina Secretary of State - Business Division
The business division of the Secretary of State’s Office helps business owners organize and register their business. Additional resources include South Carolina Business One Stop, South Carolina Department of Commerce, South Carolina Division of Small and Minority Business Contracting and Certification, U.S. Small Business Administration, and South Carolina Small Business Development Centers.
1205 Pendleton Street
Suite 525
Columbia, South Carolina 29201
South Carolina Department of State Business Division website
Charleston Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise Office
Charleston’s Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise Office (M&WBE) strives to increase participation of minority and women-owned business enterprises in the full array of contracting opportunities available in the City of Charleston.
The M&WBE office assists potential entrepreneurs and existing small business owners through:
Business growth and expansion
Resources related to business start-ups
Minority and Women Business Enterprise (M&WBE) certification to enhance contracting opportunities
Access to financial opportunities
Guidance and counseling on management skills and operational effectiveness
Local skills-based training opportunities
80 Broad Street
Charleston, South Carolina 29401
Phone: 843-724-7434
Charleston Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise Office website
South Carolina Small Business Administration - SBA
The South Carolina SBA is supported by the main district office in Columbia, as well as additional locations in Charleston and Spartanburg. They provide services including funding programs, counseling, federal contracting, certifications, and disaster recovery. They can also connect you to partner organizations, lenders, and other community groups that help small businesses succeed.
The Columbia office serves Calhoun, Florence, Allendale, Bamburg, Barnwell, Darlington, Dillon, Sumter, Lexington, Richland, Aiken, Orangeburg, Marion, Lee, Clarendon, and Marlboro counties.
The Charleston office serves Williamsburg, Georgetown, Horry, Hampton, Dorchester, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Beaufort, and Jasper counties.
The Spartanburg location serves Newberry, Anderson, Cherokee, Kershaw, Chesterfield, Chester, Pickens, Edgefield, Greenville, Lancaster, Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick, York, Spartanburg, Fairfield, Oconee, Saluda, Union, and Abbeville counties.
Examples of educational programs and events include Federal Solicitation: Should You Respond; Federal Contracting 101; Financial Freedom Bootcamp; and Demystifying Small Business Financial Statements and Cash.
Columbia district office:
1835 Assembly Street
Suite 1425
Columbia, South Carolina 29201
Phone: 803-765-5377
South Carolina Small Business Administration SBA website
Charleston location:
3294 Ashley Phosphate Road
North Charleston, South Carolina 29420
Phone: 843-225-7430
Spartanburg location:
1875 East Main Street
Duncan, South Carolina 29334
Phone: 803-253-3123
South Carolina Agencies and Nonprofit Organizations
Women’s Business Center of South Carolina (WBC) at Columbia College Center for Entrepreneurship
The Women’s Business Center provides education and resources, including programs that take entrepreneurs from concept and product development to financing, marketing, market introduction, and beyond.
WBC programs incorporate both local and digital work that draws in a community of diverse women. If you are just starting out or have been in business for decades, they can offer new tools that meet your specific needs.
1301 Columbia College Drive
Columbia, South Carolina 29203
Phone: 803.470.6306
Women’s Business Center of South Carolina at Columbia College website
South Carolina Small Business Development Centers - SC SBDC
Seventeen South Carolina Small Business Development Centers (SC SBDC) across the state offer individual, confidential business consulting at no cost. Highly-trained consultants assist both existing and startup companies.
Consultants provide a variety of services, including advisement on business plans, fiscal and operations management, financing options, marketing strategies, human resources, and much more. Centers conduct affordable education workshops and provide referrals to useful business resources.
Specialized services include government contracting, exporting, technology commercialization, veterans business assistance, and minority outreach.
South Carolina SBDC main office:
USC Moore School of Business
1014 Greene Street
Columbia, South Carolina 29208
Phone: 803-777-0749
South Carolina Small Business Development Centers website
Clemson region SBDC offices are located in Greenville, Clemson, Greenwood, and Duncan.
South Carolina State region SBDC offices are located in Orangeburg, and Walterboro.
Winthrop region SBDC offices are located in Rock Hill, Conway, Florence, Union, and Georgetown.
USC region SBDC offices are located in Aiken, Beaufort, North Charleston, Columbia, Hilton Head Island, Lexington, Newberry, and Sumter.
SCORE South Carolina
SCORE is a nonprofit organization that delivers most of its offerings at no cost.
Free Mentoring: Entrepreneurs can access free, confidential business mentoring in person or remotely via email, phone and video. SCORE mentors are experts in entrepreneurship and related fields who meet with their small business clients on an ongoing basis to provide continued advice and support.
Webinars and Courses on Demand: SCORE regularly offers free online events on topics ranging from startup strategies to marketing and finance. Attendees can watch webinars live or view recordings online on their own time.
Library of Online Resources: Business owners can also benefit from SCORE’s extensive collection of guides, templates, checklists, blogs, videos, infographics, and more.
Local Webinars & Workshops: Many local SCORE chapters hold free or low-cost in-person or online workshops and roundtable discussions covering various topics.
Main Office - North Charleston
4045 Bridge View Drive, B151
North Charleston, South Carolina 29405
Phone: 843-727-4778
SCORE South Carolina website
SCORE South Carolina Lowcountry serves Beaufort, Colleton, Jasper, and Hampton counties.
SCORE Charleston South Carolina serves Charleston, Berkeley, Dorchester, Willamsburg Counties and nearby towns.
SCORE Midlands serves Columbia.
SCORE Greater Aiken serves the CSRA (Georgia and South Carolina).
SCORE Grand Strand serves Horry, Georgetown, Florence, Marion, Williamsburg, Dillon, Chesterfield, Darlington, and Marlboro.
SCORE Piedmont serves Upstate South Carolina.
The Harbor Entrepreneur Center
The Harbor Entrepreneur Center believes that entrepreneurship is the number one way to grow the economy. Through programs and events every Founder of a business is connected with Mentors that have done it, Experts with the skills, Investors with capital, and a peer group of other supportive Founders.
Founded and operated by entrepreneurs who live the journey, The Harbor leverages this experience to support entrepreneurs at any stage.
JRS Coding School: JRS Coding School invites you to turn your creative thinking into productive coding.
Harbor Accelerator: This hands-on mentoring by the founders of some of the region’s most successful companies helps young companies build a strong customer acquisition platform as a basic building block for growth.
Forum: Whether it’s a worker’s comp issue, a new marketing opportunity, or a difficult client, you can bring any issue to Forum.
Shared Workspace: The Harbor Entrepreneur Center fosters the entrepreneurial mindset with a collaborative atmosphere that is simple and welcoming to join.
Primary location
The Harbor Entrepreneur Center
65 Gadsden Street
Charleston, South Carolina 29401
Epic Center at Citadel Mall
2070 Sam Rittenberg Boulevard
B-272
Charleston, South Carolina 29407
The Harbor Entrepreneur Center website
Funding - State and Federal Sources
U.S. Small Business Administration - Funding Resources
The U.S. Small Business Administration helps small businesses get the funding they need. Funding resources include:
Loans: Start or expand your business with loans guaranteed by the SBA.
Investment capital: Find an investor for your business. Investors make both debt and equity investments.
Disaster assistance: Get help after a disaster with low-interest disaster loans.
Surety bonds: Protect your work and your client with an SBA-guaranteed surety bond.
Grants: Look for government grants that help businesses do scientific research and development.
South Carolina Department of Commerce - Capital Funding Resources
The South Carolina Department of Commerce provides statewide capital funding opportunities including grants, incentives, investments, and loans to help new and existing South Carolina businesses thrive.
1201 Main Street
Suite 1600
Columbia, South Carolina 29201
Phone: 803-737-0400
South Carolina Department of Commerce Capital Funding Resources website
Grants.gov
Grants.gov provides a unified electronic storefront for interactions between grant applicants and the Federal agencies that manage grant funds. There are twenty-six Federal grant-making agencies and more than 900 individual grant programs that award more than $400 billion in grants each year. The grantor community includes state, local, and tribal governments; academia and research institutions; and not-for-profit organizations.
South Carolina Educational Institutions
Clemson University - Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business - Arthur M. Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership
The mission of Arthur M. Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership is to provide educational, research, and service programs and career enhancement opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs that foster lifelong, personal development.
The institute believes:
the best practices of those who have come before and have become the role models of those to follow them.
a discipline of mind and behavior evolves from the experiences in the classroom, research, and service, to the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
there is no such thing as a solopreneur. All achievement comes by way of diverse and inclusive teams, and that often the most awesome and startling contributions come from those least expected.
Arthur M. Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership
107 Sloan Street
Clemson, South Carolina 29631
Phone: 864-656-3311
Clemson University Powers College of Business Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership
University of South Carolina - Darla Moore School of Business - Faber Entrepreneurship Center
The Faber Entrepreneurship Center at the Darla Moore School of Business promotes experiential learning through in-depth consulting projects as part of student course work. For its research programs and commercialization projects, the center works in conjunction with the South Carolina Research Authority, the South Carolina Department of Commerce, the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, various schools and colleges at South Carolina and a broad range of other entities to bring inventions and innovative technologies developed at the university and throughout South Carolina into the marketplace.
Priorities:
Facilitating education, experiential opportunities, and research that nurture and foster the entrepreneurial spirit of the University of South Carolina to create future domestic and global entrepreneurs
Providing students with intensive exposure to entrepreneurial concepts, small business management training and interaction with a network of successful entrepreneurs in South Carolina
Moore School of Business
1014 Greene Street
Columbia, South Carolina 29208
Phone: 803-777-3176
University of South Carolina Moore School of Business Faber Entrepreneurship Center website
South Carolina Business Publications
SC Biz Magazine
SCBIZ is the quarterly magazine serving senior-level decision-makers across the entire state of South Carolina. With a focus on economic development issues, SCBIZ Magazine takes a thoughtful, analytical look at complex topics, opportunities and challenges facing the state’s business leaders and fulfills the SC Biz News mission of being South Carolina’s media engine for economic growth.
1612 Marion Street
Suite 301
Columbia, South Carolina 29201
Phone: 864-867-1925
SC Biz Magazine website
Charleston Regional Business Journal
The Charleston Regional Business Journal is the publication serving senior-level decision-makers in the Lowcountry of Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties. In addition to the newspaper, the Business Journal also produces the region’s premier business networking events: Forty Under 40, Lowcountry Diversity Leadership Awards, Healthcare Heroes and the North Charleston Business Expo.
3265 North Carolina Avenue
Suite 101
North Charleston, South Carolina 29405
Phone: 864-867-1925
Charleston Regional Business Journal website
Columbia Regional Business Report
The Columbia Regional Business Report is the publication serving senior-level decision-makers in the state capital. In addition to the newspaper, the Business Report also serves Columbia with print supplements that include the Book of Lists, Book of Experts, Event Planning Guide, and Giving.
1612 Marion Street
Suite 301
Columbia, South Carolina 29201
Phone: 864-867-1925
Columbia Regional Business Report website
GSA Business Report
GSA Business Report is the publication serving senior-level decision-makers in the Upstate, encompassing the cities of Greenville, Spartanburg and Anderson and the 10 surrounding counties. In addition to the newspaper, GSA Business Report delivers business news and print supplements including the Book of Lists, Market Facts, Corporate Event Planning Guide, and Book of Experts. GSA Business Report also produces business networking events including the Power Event Series and the largest manufacturing gathering in the state, the S.C. Manufacturing Conference and Expo.
35 Cessna Court
Suite B
Greenville, South Carolina 29607
Phone: 864-867-1925