Barrow County is home to 133 women-owned businesses according to the 2022 U.S. Census, and unfortunately for the community, this number is going downwards, which opposes the statewide trends.
Forty-six percent of businesses in Georgia are women-owned, which contributes to the national 114% of female entrepreneurship growth in the last two decades.
What is it that sets women-owned businesses such as Ann’s Flower Shop up for long-term success, and how can Barrow County continue to support women in their ventures?
Chamber of Commerce Assistance
The Barrow County Women in Business Committee, run by the Chamber of Commerce, supports women by hosting monthly events to allow women to network and build relationships. Attendees come from many different fields and different levels within their respective professions, but can come together to support each other.
Helene Caviness currently works for Athens Land Trust but has been a member of the committee for four years.
She has appreciated the encouraging community that she has found within the gatherings hosted by the committee, whether that is their 12-person monthly meetings or their monthly events, which host about 75 women.
“This is a great group of women who are very warm and inviting,” Caviness said. “Sometimes there’s these women’s groups, and you go in and you’re like,… ‘nobody’s going to talk to me’, but no one’s like that … Everybody’s … just interested in building a great network.”
Caviness said the committee had an initiative where they were able to help cover the cost of women’s memberships to the Chamber of Commerce. These women started renting storefronts in downtown Auburn, which is about 15 minutes from the county seat in Winder.
Though the business’s overhead costs are limited, the assistance with these fees allowed these women to grow their business and have access to the necessary resources to grow their professional network, according to Caviness.
Despite the numerical decline in businesses, Caviness takes pride in the women-owned business landscape in Barrow County.
“I know that we have several … heating and air [businesses owned by women], which is kind of amazing that that’s a woman-owned business, It’s a much broader range of businesses … that wouldn’t typically be owned by a woman, but it’s great being able to see that,” Caviness said.
Local Woman-Owned Business
One business that is active within the Women in Business committee and has been in Barrow County for over 70 years is Ann’s Flower Shop. They are well known around the community, with a variety of specialties ranging from contemporary and traditional arrangements to UGA-related gifts.
Paige Stinchcomb, daughter of owner Sherry Miller, is highly involved with the day-to-day operations within the flower shop as its manager. She described her day-to-day in the role.
“[I make] sure that flower lists are ready and made for wholesalers so that I can get the flowers that we need, and then getting started on delivery orders first and pickups, making sure that they’re all made, making routes for the different deliveries, and then helping anyone who comes in for the gift shop,” Stinchcomb said.
Stinchcomb said the small-town location of the business has largely contributed to their ability to practice the art of floral arrangement.
When I was little, before I had anything to do with the business … everybody knew everybody. It was great to be in a small town, and everybody kind of had your trust.”
Stinchcomb and her mother have been long-time members of the Chamber of Commerce. She said that the network and trust that come with being registered have been very valuable, and her monthly attendance at the Women in Business luncheons has helped her to network.
As more women-owned firms pop up around the state of Georgia, networking opportunities for women, such as committees through the Chamber of Commerce, will allow for resources to be readily available.
Emma Humphries is a third-year journalism major at the University of Georgia.
Show Comments (0)