What it is

The Women's Business Center at Maryland Capital Enterprises (MCE WBC) is a U.S. Small Business Administration Women's Business Center operated by Maryland Capital Enterprises, a nonprofit CDFI lender. The SBA tasked MCE with launching the center in 2013 and still partly funds it. The center focuses on counseling, mentoring, and training for women entrepreneurs, with offices in Salisbury and Baltimore. See Our History.

What it offers founders

  • Women's Business Consulting: free individualized consultations for new and aspiring women entrepreneurs. A consultant assesses your needs, helps you write a business plan, and connects you to other help. See Women's Business Consulting.
  • Mentoring: local women business owners mentor aspiring owners on day-to-day operations or a specific area of the business.
  • Women's Business Education: classes and webinars on starting a business, business plans and cash flow projections, financing, MBE certification, social media and marketing, credit repair, and QuickBooks. Fall 2026 sessions included First Steps of Starting Your Own Business, Turning Your Side Hustle Into a Business, and SBA Financing Options. Several are listed as free. See Women's Business Education.
  • Women's Business Loans: access to small business loans through MCE for clients who need capital.
  • Annual MCE Women's Business Conference: a yearly networking and learning event; the 11th was held March 6, 2026.

Who it is for

The center targets women who want to start or expand a small business, including women-owned businesses (51 percent owned by women). Its FAQ says services are open to everyone, so co-owned businesses can also use it. It lists service in Wicomico, Worcester, Somerset, Dorchester, Talbot, Caroline, Queen Anne's, Cecil, and Kent counties on the Eastern Shore, and in Baltimore City and Harford, Calvert, Baltimore, and Anne Arundel counties.

How to engage

Walk in to either office, book a counselor through the intake form, or call 410-546-1900 or email info@marylandcapital.org. Offices are at 314 Civic Ave. in Salisbury and on N. Calvert Street in Baltimore. Class registration links are on the education page, and answers to common questions are on the FAQs page.

Why it matters in the DMV ecosystem

SBA Women's Business Centers are a core free resource for women founders. This one is unusual in sitting inside a lender, so a client can move from a first counseling session to a business plan and, where it fits, to an MCE loan without changing organizations.