Cynthia Rubio, owner of Radiant RFID, in Austin, TX was recently named a finalist in the Make Mine a Million $ Business program sponsored by Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence and founding partner, OPEN from American Express.  The announcement was made at the conclusion of the Texas Conference for Women held in Austin on October 4th.  Rubio is one of five state finalists for this program.

The idea behind Make Mine a Million $ Business is to provide a combination of money, mentoring, marketing, and technology tools that women entrepreneurs need to help grow their business past the million $ mark.  Started in 2005, the goal is to help at least one million women make at least $1 million in sales by 2010.  This is no small task as currently less than 3% of the 10.4 million women-owned businesses in the U.S. have revenues in excess of $1 million (274,052).  [Source: Center for Women’s Business Research 2006 Data]

Rubio started her radio frequency identification technology business three years ago and quickly learned to access available resources to help her succeed.  To that end, she attended a business plan course sponsored by Texas State Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and followed through by receiving one-on-one assistance to complete the plan for a business loan.  “(The SBDC) has been a great resource for our company.  I would have had a more difficult time beginning my business if the SBDC had not been available.”  She continues to utilize the program as necessary and received personal support for her Make Mine a Million $ Business presentation.

The Small Business Development Center program began in 1980 and is partially funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration.  Hosted by leading universities, colleges, and state economic development agencies, there are approximately 1,000 centers nationwide making the organization the country’s largest provider of managerial and technical assistance to businesses.  Texas State University-San Marcos hosts the local SBDC program which provides services to 12 counties in Central Texas.

“As part of a regional and national program, the Texas State SBDC achieves significant annual economic development goals through comprehensive, confidential business consulting services that are provided at no ‘out of pocket’ cost to the client.  Small businesses are the driving force of this economy.  Our program’s job is to assist business owners like Cynthia Rubio reach their potential” states Larry Lucero, Director of Texas State SBDC.