New University of Montana Business Center Buoys Female Entrepreneurs

The University of Montana and the Montana Technology Enterprise Center (MonTEC) have secured a grant to create one of 20 new enters in the nation dedicated to women in business.

The MonTEC Women’s Business Center, funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration, will be housed in Missoula but serve the entire state, with employees in Missoula, Great Falls and Fort Belknap. It is the second WBC in Montana.

“I have been saying out loud for three years that I would like a WBC in Missoula,” said Morgan Slemberger, the UM director of women’s entrepreneurship and leadership who spearheaded the grant application. “A colleague alerted me to this rare SBA opportunity with a little more than eight days’ notice. I talked with a lot of people in a short time, and because stakeholders in our state believe in women, we got the grant. It was a stretch, but we made it happen.”