Female entrepreneurs in San Francisco are benefiting from initiatives that provide training and seed money to small business owners. Programs like the Women's Initiative for Self-Employment provide business training classes to nascent entrepreneurs, and often act as microlenders as well. The practice of seeking or providing smaller loans to businesses has become more popular with the economic downturn.
See "Microloans, training boost entrepreneurs", Tom Abate, San Francisco Chronicle, October 11, 2009