LIMESTONE — Some Limestone area women are on their way to earning or expanding their niches in the Aroostook County business community through Working Capital.

The Working Capital program aims to boost the income and success levels of the self-employed through loans, business training and opportunities to exchange ideas. It is offered in Maine by the Women’s Business Development Corp., a statewide nonprofit organization operating in eight locations with partnerships with several foundations and banking institutions.

According to Barbara Shaw of Presque Isle, the WBDC’s Aroostook County enterprise agent, Limestone is Aroostook County’s first Working Capital program site.

Working Capital is open to women and minority entrepreneurs. The largest peer-lending program in New England, Working Capital has more than 600 participants in Maine to date, she said.

“Anywhere there’s change, there’s opportunity for growth,” said Shaw. With Loring Air Force Base closing at the end of September, Limestone fits the bill. But the closing of the base need not spell disaster.

By supporting locally owned businesses and providing a vehicle for the self-employed to support each other, Working Capital aims to play a key role in rebuilding economically devastated communities.

A universal problem for women and other minority entrepreneurs has been to secure startup capital, build a credit history and form a network with other businesspeople. Working Capital is designed to address those needs and for most participants is the source of their first loan.

Startup and operating capital come from foundations and banks. Participating banks supply lines of credit, while Working Capital supplies training and support, oversees credit distribution and collection, evaluates programs, and recruits local organizations and financial partners in the community.

Participants join business loan groups of four to 10 members who meet regularly to complete education modules, review and approve each other’s loans, exchange ideas and contacts, and offer mutual support.

Members apply directly to their groups for loans and do not need collateral. Loans start at $500, but once a track record is established, can grow to as much as $5,000. To ensure timely payments, all members must be up to date on their loans before new ones may be approved.

Established business owners are eligible for the Business Gross Fund, which with the cooperation of banks, offers short-term loans of $3,000 to $10,000.

“I believe the Women’s Business Development Corp. is the avenue that many `would-be’ entrepreneurs are looking for,” said Rosa Hancock, president of the Limestone Chamber of Commerce.

“This membership organization is a unique and successful way of not only providing financial ways and means for small-business owners but it also brings together a network of colleagues striving together, working with each other for the benefit of all.”

The pilot group in Limestone is a mix of experienced, new and future entrepreneurs. Members at a meeting last week decided to call their group Professionals Engineering Effective Revenues — PEER.

Elected officers for the group were Chairman Sarah Rossignol, Vice Chairman Wendy Gilman-Zubrick; Secretary Jeanne Bugby and Treasurer Lori Beaulieu. The group encourages new members to join. Its next meeting will be at the Limestone municipal building at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 6.

Shaw also said an informational meeting will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Learning Center in Caribou.

For more information call Shaw at 764-8630 or the WBDC office at 947-5990.