COUNTYWIDE : Program Helps Girls Think Big About Small Businesses

Lisa Foster started her housecleaning business 11 years ago with a baby on her back. Pedaling her bicycle from client to client, the Oxnard woman had little knowledge of business permits, bookkeeping or employee management.

Today, as director of a mentor scholarship program run by the Ventura County Professional Women’s Network, Foster helps young women avoid such rocky beginnings, she said.

The 37-year-old entrepreneur and her colleagues give high school seniors a chance to design paper corporations for $5,500 worth of awards.

“If I had had that when I was starting my business, I would never have gone through all the stumbling blocks . . . like realizing I needed a business license for every city that I cleaned in and . . . having all the proper insurances and knowing how to fire and how to hire.”

The women’s network, a nonprofit organization of more than 300 area businesswomen, targets students who earn Bs and Cs in school.

“It’s easy to get a scholarship when you’re an A student,” Foster said. “The grade-point average isn’t as important as the determination to make something of yourself.”

This year, five teams of girls created businesses, including a catering service for businesses, an international coffee and bookshop and an educational video store.

The girls had eight weeks to design the business and find financial and legal backing.

They met weekly with businesswomen from the network who answered their questions.

Michelle Klawitter and Carrie Bengtson, seniors at Newbury Park High School, created the winning business, “A Fine Affair,” a caterer to people planning parties in the workplace. The company would choose a theme for the customer and subcontract the work to chefs and decorators.

“Carrie and I gave up everything from dates and vacations and devoted it to working on this project,” Klawitter said. “We lived together in my room at my computer.”

The students, who split a $3,000 award, said the project taught them communication skills and ways to better manage their time.

“If I ever want to take on this project later in life, I’d have a taste for it,” Bengtson said.