At a time when many Americans are squeezed by skyrocketing foreclosure rates, $4-a-gallon gasoline and climbing unemployment, two sisters are working to help Prince George’s women realize the American dream of owning their own business.
Rachel Allen and Donnie Coleman of Clinton have owned and managed Natural Beauty Hair Designers in Lanham for 16 years and recently added 2,500 square feet of space. The addition allows for eight business suites, which the sisters are renting to young entrepreneurs, particularly women, for about $500 to $700 per month.
‘‘So many women have a vision, but they don’t know how to get started,” said Allen, a cosmetology teacher at Gwynn Park High School in Brandywine. ‘‘This gives them a chance to rent space and run their business while they decide if it’s something they want to stick with.”
Coleman, a lieutenant colonel with the Army Reserve, said her sister has always been an educator by nature, recalling how Allen started the salon business in hopes of providing a working environment for her students.
She said the idea for opening up the salon to other suites started after a woman came in requesting help with outfit alterations. This was around the time the sisters were renovating the salon. They realized people were interested in businesses that complemented hair design, such as seamstress work, massage therapy and skin care.
‘‘It’s always exciting to see women entrepreneurs who own their own space and can lease out more space for new businesses,” said Charlotte Ducksworth, director of the Small Business Initiative, which is managed through the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corp. ‘‘The number of woman-owned businesses has significantly increased over the last five years.”
Allen said she wants to offer women not only a place to start their business but training and counseling on business matters. She has conducted such seminars in the past.
‘‘People often don’t realize what’s involved in business,” said Coleman, a mother of three who focuses on the financial side, while Allen handles the operational side. ‘‘The concept behind this is to enable and empower individuals looking to start a small business.”
Dawn Jackson, president of Women Business Owners of Prince George’s County, said the region could use more opportunities such as this, especially with its focus on women. She said Largo already has a similar facility, integrating a hair salon with adjoining ‘‘escape services” such as the ones Allen and Coleman hope to attract.
Jackson said these one-stop concepts work because people are often pressed for time and prefer getting all their errands done in one place.
Allen has six employees at the salon and said the business sees an average of 100 customers per month. She describes her business as upscale in terms of attitude and said the salon’s greatest asset is the camaraderie of women employed there, a feeling she hopes to replicate among the surrounding suites.
Coleman also pointed out that while the sisters are specifically interested in woman-owned businesses, they won’t turn away a business just because it’s run by a man.
‘‘I think it’s fantastic. Any assistance we can give to future entrepreneurs, we should do so, since the county is always moving forward,” said James Dula, president and CEO of the Prince George’s Chamber of Commerce. ‘‘We have had numerous woman-owned businesses looking for locations to operate.”
The chamber established a women’s advisory group for women to discuss their business experiences, just to help meet this need, Dula said.
Allen is also offering seminars this summer for women not necessarily moving into her suites.
Both Allen and Coleman moved from Arkansas in 1986 in hopes of finding better jobs in Maryland.
‘‘We’re connected at the hip,” Coleman said, emphasizing that Allen has always been an extended part of her family, as Allen is single. ‘‘It seems like we do everything together.”
She joked that while she has been actively involved in helping her sister reach her goals of helping people, it is Allen who comes up with all the ideas.
‘‘She’s the visionary; I just push the paper,” Coleman said.
