NORFOLK WOMAN GIVING 13 GRANTS OF $2,020
Funding to go to female business owners in need
NORFOLK — Angela Reddix said she knows what it’s like to hold her breath before knowing for sure if it would be a good (or not-so-good) year for business. Her company, A. Reddix & Associates Inc. or ARDX, is a government contractor based in Norfolk that relies on a federal budget every year to fund the health-care management and informational technology services that she supplies.
For the past three years, she’s felt the sting of federal budget cuts. The difference during this latest challenge, a pandemic that’s led to economic strain unseen since the Great Depression? “This time, I’m not alone.”
After pondering the sacrifices she and her family made to build up her business 13 years ago, she said she was thankful that, this time, her company was surviving and her family was safe.
“I think when you’re grateful, it’s an opportunity to give back,” she said.
Starting at 3 p.m. Monday, she’ll begin accepting applications from fellow women business owners in need during the COVID-19 pandemic on her personal site angelareddix.com, promising to give out $2,020 to 13 winners.
The names will be announced daily beginning May 1, and the recipients should receive the funds within a week, she said.
What’s required? Certainly, a financial need as well as an employer identification number and proof the company is registered to do business in Virginia, with preference given to those in Hampton Roads. Applicants also must be women working for their businesses full-time with no other source of
income and will need to show they applied for unemployment and had not received the benefits at the time they applied for her offer. Applicants also must show that they weren’t able to get one of the government’s Paycheck Protection Program loans. Those interested in vying for the funds will be asked to fill out a form and send a two-minute video.
“My commitment is seeing women succeed,” she said.
Congress had guaranteed $349-billion worth of forgivable loans to the country’s small businesses so long as they kept their employees on the payroll, but the program ran out of money in less than two weeks. The Small Business Administration said it approved more than 1.6 million loans, but the number is a small fraction of the more than 30 million small businesses nationwide. As of the weekend, Congress was trying to figure out a way to replenish the fund.
“The government’s doing a whole lot, but it’s a lot of individuals to serve,” she said.
She, too, had sought and was approved for a paycheck protection program loan. Three years ago, her company began shifting to a more remote-working strategy, and 90% of her staffers now work from their homes across the country.
“This quarantine did not really affect us from an infrastructure perspective. And the work that we do continues.” But, she said, the business still has to manage its resources amid unsteady cash flow as the federal government’s focus has shifted to responding to the coronavirus spread.
Her personal business mantra has been to operate as if there’s a rainy day all the time, using surpluses to shore up her reserves.
“To survive and thrive in business, we have to always assume that a day is going to come when it’s not just going to rain, it’s going to storm,” the Virginia Beach resident said.
That’s among the advice she hopes the 13 winning businesses will take away from the experience, learning to take this time to get their affairs in order and start creating contingency plans that could shield them during future storms, “so we’re not living week to week, paycheck to paycheck.”
Reddix has been an outspoken advocate for women leaders and entrepreneurs. She started a nonprofit called Envision Lead Grow three years ago to offer an immersive, week-long entrepreneurship workshop for middleschool-aged girls in 48 states. The program was the basis of her dissertation at Oklahoma State University — “Super Girl Power: Can Girls Move Swiftly Through Deliberate Practice to Become Successful Entrepreneurs?” — as she pursued a doctorate in business.
She’s also published a book in reference to the program to be released May 9: “Envision Lead Grow: Releasing the Boss Within.”
She said she wasn’t necessarily keen on publicizing this latest effort, but she wanted to get the best pool of applicants in need. Reddix hopes it inspires others to do what they can, whether it’s with dollars or not. Helping, she said, is one of the few things under a person’s control during the pandemic.
“It’s a sacrifice. It’s not like it’s just sitting there,” she said of the personal funds she’s set aside for the effort. “I will be OK, and we’ll all be OK if we try to help out a little bit.”
The Helpers is a new feature from The Virginian-Pilot and the Daily Press about people and groups who are stepping up to help others during the coronavirus pandemic.
Kimberly Pierceall, 757-550-1903, kimberly.pierceall@pilotonline.com