It's Your Time
The application period for the "It’s Your Time" Entrepreneurial Training Series for Women event is currently OPEN. Spring 2019 applications are being accepted until January 18, 2019.
Training Workshops
IEWBC hosts and instructs a variety of business development workshops to meet your goals. View our upcoming courses and get US on YOUR calendar.
Already In Business?
We offer FREE business counseling geared specifically towards the unique challenges of women in business. We are here to help you grow and improve.
OUR MISSION
The mission of the Inland Empire Women’s Business Center is to counsel, teach, encourage and inspire women business owners at every stage of development and expansion.
OUR VISION
Start • Grow • Prosper Empowering Women Through Entrepreneurship
Mariatu Browne
Mariatu “Tu” Browne discovered her passion for hair at the early age of 9 while braiding in her home country of Sierra Leone. Fast forward to California in 2006, where a generous investment from a friend helped her open her first salon, Tu’s Studio Hair Design. A series of personal hardships, coupled with the onset of an economic downturn, forced her to close her doors.
Tu did not give up; she had bigger plans. She continued to improve her cosmetology skills by working at other salons, and went back to school. Building on the skills and knowledge she obtained from Chaffey College, where she earned a AS in business management, she earned two bachelor’s degrees with concentrations in Entrepreneurial Management and Marketing from California State University San Bernardino.
Mariatu Browne
In the fall of 2015, Tu came to the Inland Empire Women’s Business Center as part of the “It’s Your Time: Entrepreneurial Training Program for Women” (IYT). Tu was always positive, generous with support to other participants, and keenly focused on achieving her goals. She completed the program in December 2015 placing second place in the business plan competition.
In pursuit of her goal, she began searching for a space in Rancho Cucamonga where she could open an organic hair salon. With a small start-up loan, she persuaded a salon owner who wanted to close to sell her a shop. Tu Organics Salon and Spa opened in October of 2016.
The single mom worked to overcome significant handicaps in her effort to develop a business plan, organize the funds, and implement the plan to have her own salon. She struggled through all the difficulties that a new business owner must overcome to reach success while balancing work, family, and school.
