Ellyn Herbert, economic development specialist at the Small Business Administration, and some members of Dover Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., during last year’s Women-Owned Small Businesses Support Group event. (Delaware State News/submitted by Debbie Ridley)[/caption]

DOVER — In effort to make women more knowledgeable on becoming entrepreneurs, the Dover Alumnae Chapter, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. will sponsor the “Women-Owned Small Businesses Support Group” on Saturday.

“It’s a chance to educate the community on the different information that’s out there that will help them become business owners,” said Delores Henry, chapter president of the Dover Alumnae Chapter of the sorority.

“It helps women who have started businesses, or who want to become business owners. Some women don’t know what avenues to take or the right way to go about it and we’re hoping this will help.”

The event will be held at the Bank of America Building, Room 113, at Delaware State University from noon to 3:30 p.m.

Reservations are not required and any woman who is a small-business owner or has an interest in becoming an entrepreneur is invited. The cost is $3.

The event will consist of presentations and guest speakers, one of whom will be Bobbie Schmittinger, business adviser for the Delaware Small Business Development Center.

The presentations will include “Creating a Website for Your Small Business” by Demetrius Pinder, president and project manager for Nuts and Bolts Web Design, and tax considerations in ”What You Need to Know” by accountant Tammy J. Ordway, a partner and director of Entrepreneurial Services.

It’s the third event sponsored by the organization.

“We had a small event that we had in the past,” said Debbie Ridley, chair of the economic development committee for the organization.

“It was an economic fair and we held it at William Henry. It was very well received.

“We had a lot of vendors, but we found out there were a lot of women out there that didn’t know the ins and outs about being businesses owners, so we wanted to empower and educate them,” she said.

Women face many challenges as business owners, according to Ms. Henry.

“Some women have started small business, but may not know the legal aspects behind it,” she said.

“They may not be aware that they should have business licenses. You can get one in the state of Delaware, but you need one to operate in Dover to sell certain products, like Mary Kay,” she said, referring to the cosmetics line whose products are sold by independent consultants.

“Women don’t understand you should be paying taxes,” she added. “The goals of the programs that we sponsor are to fix those challenges and help them as much as we can.”

Ms. Ridley agreed.

“There’s no reason why you can’t make money from your business,” Ms. Ridley said.

“We want women to understand that there is a lot of information out there and if done correctly they can become successful business owners.”

The organization plans to help in different ways as well.

“Ms. Henry has agreed to pay for the licenses of a few people,” Ms. Ridley said. “We’re trying to go beyond and help out as many people as we can.”