Capital, resources, and
a straight answer.

Goliath does not run a special program for women-owned businesses. Our underwriting is identity-blind: we evaluate revenue patterns from bank statements, time in business, existing debt service, and basic credit signals. We do not collect or use the gender of the principal in any underwriting decision. We've found that the most useful thing we can be for women-owned operators — or any operator — is a fast, fair, transparent funder, not a marketer with a branded category. So this page is here because operators searching for 'business loans for women' deserve a real-content destination that lists actually-useful resources, not a hard-sell pivot to our own product.

What follows is a working directory of the SBA programs, CDFIs, and grant opportunities specifically built for women-owned businesses. We then explain how Goliath's working-capital product fits — honestly — and when it's the right tool versus when one of the slower, cheaper paths below makes more sense. Use this page as a research starting point. If a same-day working-capital advance is what you actually need, our application is at the bottom. If it's not, the resources below are the right places to spend your time.

The funding gap is real, and the data is consistent

Multiple independent studies — from the Federal Reserve, the SBA's Office of Advocacy, and academic researchers — show that women-owned businesses face statistically meaningful gaps in access to bank credit and venture capital. Venture capital flowing to all-women founding teams remains under 3% of total deployed dollars. SBA-approved loan amounts to women-owned applicants have historically run smaller than approvals to similarly-situated men-owned applicants. Bank rejection rates for women-owned applicants have run several percentage points higher. The gaps are not about creditworthiness — they reflect documented patterns in how traditional credit markets evaluate narrative-driven applications. The programs and lenders listed below exist specifically to close those gaps.

The SBA's Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contracting Program is the most concretely useful federal program for women-owned businesses. Certification is free and runs through certify.sba.gov. To qualify, the business must be at least 51% directly and unconditionally owned and controlled by one or more women who are U.S. citizens. The Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB) subset has additional income and net-worth thresholds. Certification doesn't provide capital directly — it makes the business eligible to compete for set-aside federal contracts in industries the SBA has flagged as under-represented for women ownership. Winning federal contract work then becomes a path to predictable revenue that supports both organic growth and credit-based capital.

The SBA 8(a) Business Development Program is a nine-year mentoring and contracting program for socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses. Women are not categorically presumed disadvantaged under 8(a) the way certain other groups are, but women can qualify by demonstrating individual social disadvantage through documented evidence. The 8(a) certification process is more rigorous than WOSB, but it unlocks a different and larger pool of federal contract opportunities. Many women-owned businesses pursue both certifications in parallel because each opens distinct contract pools.

Grants worth applying for

Grant money is non-dilutive and non-repayable, which makes it the cheapest possible capital — but it comes with high competition and slow timelines. The Amber Grant (WomensNet.net) awards $10,000 monthly to a selected woman-owned business plus a $25,000 annual grant to one of the monthly winners. The application is low-friction. The Tory Burch Foundation Fellowship provides $5,000 grants plus mentorship and networking for women entrepreneurs. The Cartier Women's Initiative is global, competitive, and substantial — winners receive significant capital plus international visibility. IFundWomen runs grant programs and aggregates external opportunities. Eileen Fisher's Women-Owned Business Grant Program supports women-owned businesses with social and environmental missions. None of these will solve a payroll crunch this Friday, but they're real money for operators with time to apply.

CDFIs and women-focused community lenders

Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) are mission-driven lenders certified by the U.S. Treasury to serve underserved markets. CDFI loans typically carry below-market interest rates (often 6–10% APR), flexible underwriting that considers community impact alongside credit metrics, and bundled technical assistance. Grameen America offers small loans to low-income women entrepreneurs through a peer-support model. The Women's Business Centers (WBC) network, funded through the SBA, provides counseling and capital connections in nearly every state. Accion Opportunity Fund makes small business loans with a documented track record of serving women-owned businesses. Local CDFIs — searchable on the CDFI Fund's website — often run women-focused loan products with the lowest rates available outside SBA itself. Trade-off: timelines typically run 30 to 90 days from application to funding.