Editor’s Note: This brief has been changed to reflect the correct day of the Business After Hours event.
NAPA to host Nov. 19
Business After Hours event
Kachemak Auto Parts/NAPA will host the next Homer Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event.
The mixer is from 5-6:30 p.m. Nov. 19 at the auto parts store, located at 3545 Main Street. There will be plenty of door prizes, refreshments and networking opportunities.
For more information, call the chamber at 235-7740.
Women-owned
businesses flourish
By Monica Braun
Center for Rural Affairs
Women-owned businesses are gaining economic impact and clout.
A National Women’s Business Council analysis of U.S. Census data from the 2012 Survey of Business Owners shows significant growth in women-owned businesses since 2007. As of 2012, there are 9.9 million women-owned businesses — a 27.5 percent increase. The analysis also showed that women-owned businesses generated $1.6 trillion in total receipts, which is up from $1.2 trillion in 2007 — an increase of 35 percent.
For comparison, male-owned businesses saw an increase of 33 percent. While sole proprietorships account for 89.4 percent of businesses owned by women, employee hiring has also increased by 19.5 percent.
African-American women own more than 1.5 million businesses across the United States, a 67.5 percent jump from 2007. There are 1.48 million Hispanic women-owned businesses in the U.S, an increase of 87.31 percent since 2007.
And 754,874 Asian American women own businesses, up 44.3 percent from 2007. Another area of tremendous growth was in veteran women-owned businesses, which increased by 206 percent from 2007 to a total of 384,548 businesses nationwide.
More than 100 Women’s Business Centers across the country offer counseling, business training and other services to women in business in all 50 states.
Independent ferry service
scheduled to resume
The Associated Press
KETCHIKAN — Ferry service connecting three southeast Alaska communities is set to resume following mechanical issues last month.
The North End Ferry Authority announced that its Rainforest Islands Ferry service will resume Friday. The ferry, known as the Rainforest Islander, operates between Coffman Cove on Prince of Wales Island, Wrangell and Petersburg.
The Ketchikan Daily News reports that the ferry was taken out of service in mid-October for transmission repairs.
Since launching in August, the new ferry service has dealt with outages related to weather and crew issues.
The announcement states that once service resumes, the ferry will operate on Fridays and Sundays.
