By JESIKA MILLANO P.
For AL DÍA TODAY
MELBOURNE – Sondee Lima has a holistic view to be able to visualize opportunities and an open mind to understand them. Through her leadership skills, demonstrated from working in business, education, and the nonprofit industry, she is dedicated to igniting the entrepreneurial power in all her clients.
At weVENTURE WBA, Lima helps those who have a dream of success by putting all her skills into action.
“I am passionate about my work because I get to help everyone. Not only do I help my clients with their businesses, but I also help the community through the services these businesses provide,” said the business coach, who has extensive experience in marketing, public relations, business plans, human resources, accounting, and sales. “We provide guidance to clients who have a business idea but are not sure about carrying it out or don’t know what to do. Many of our services are free.”
In addition to having studied finance, she has been an entrepreneur and knows perfectly well the challenge of starting a business.
“I just started with an idea and four thousand dollars. Eight years later, I had several employees reporting to me and had grown revenues to over half a million dollars,” said Lima.
Being a small business owner with very little start-up capital, Lima needed to wear many hats and learn all aspects of running a business.
“It’s exciting for me now to be able to help others with these skills that I have learned along the way,” she said.
Sondee Lima is fluent in Spanish and her purpose at weVENTURE is also to assist the Hispanic community.
“Women of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds were leading job creation prior to the pandemic and continue to lead in new business starts. weVENTURE WBC is laser focused on helping these entrepreneurs launch and grow their business,” said Kathryn Rudloff, weVenture executive director. “We are excited to bring on Sondee Lima as a business coach to help us work with entrepreneurs from the Hispanic community.”
That is why, in partnership with the Brevard Hispanic Center, Lima offers free guidance to entrepreneurs and also serves as a volunteer teaching English to Latino students at this center.
“Our vision is to educate and empower entrepreneurs to overcome seemingly impossible obstacles and navigate increasingly complicated challenges to become great business leaders. We strive for greatness in all areas of business,” she said.
Established in 2007 on the Florida Tech main campus in Melbourne, weVENTURE WBC has trained more than 14,500 clients and helped 170 businesses who went through IGNITE 360 Business Mentoring Program grow, maintain local jobs, and increase their revenues. Their 75 volunteers and 5 staff members have been dedicated to serving the many businesses in Brevard, Indian River and St. Lucie counties throughout the pandemic.
weVENTURE offers a variety of quality programs and services to help entrepreneurs and business owners launch and grow their businesses. Some of their services include free one-on-one business coaching, business education training, marketing strategy, business planning, financial management, and COVID-19 recovery. They also offer leadership training, peer groups, purposeful networking events, and mentoring programs.
Funded in part by a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration, weVENTURE WBC does not discriminate based on race or gender, and in fact 20% of their clients are men. As part of a charitable educational organization, weVENTURE WBC encourages the community to support their fundraising efforts as well as volunteer their time and expertise.
This month, weVENTURE has an exciting event coming up, Women Who Rock Awards 2022, to recognize women in our community who have helped promote and sustain hope for a better future. Each of the 6 award categories will incorporate this message of healing and hope as deserving local female leaders and businesses are celebrated. The celebration will be on March 22nd at 11am at the Crowne Plaza Oceanfront.
For more information about weVENTURE’s events, programs, and services or to connect with a business coach, visit weventure.fit.edu or call 321-674-7007. To reach Sondee Lima directly, call 321-455-5111.