SmallBusinessNewz

You may or may not recall back in March when I reported on Yahoo Small Business teaming up with Carolyn Kepcher from The Apprentice to offer grants to women entrepreneurs. The grant program was called "Seeds for Success: Empowering Women Entrepreneurs," and would give three women grants including cash, mentorship, and technical services valued over $25,000.

The deal was that the grant recipient that was the most successful by October as a result of the grant package would receive an additional $10,000 bonus grant. They announced the winner, and that is Dana Rubinstein, founder of Dapple, a small business dedicated to creating natural and safe baby-specific cleaning products.

A lot has happened since March obviously, with the economy throwing a fork in the spokes of businesses, but Rubinstein has made it work, and Yahoo and Kepcher have spoken a bit about what entrepreneurship means to the economy.

"Entrepreneurs play a critical role in developing a healthy economy, and strategic use of the Internet is crucial in driving the success of small businesses," said Susan Vobejda, vice president of marketing, Yahoo! Small Business. "In the case of our Seeds for Success finalists, Yahoo!'s tech mentors worked closely with each one to help design and launch Web sites that met their product and marketing needs and the work is paying off. Yahoo! Small Business wants to foster continued online innovation, so we hope this program inspires other women entrepreneurs to turn their passion into a profitable business."

Carolyn Kepcher added, "When the economy is unstable, people turn to entrepreneurship as an avenue for change. By tapping into the contributing experts of fwm, we were able to provide resources to create a truly unique and personalized learning experience for the three finalists, helping them achieve dramatic growth within a short time frame despite a down economy."

Other program finalists included Karla Duncan, founder of Head 2 Toe Publications, an innovative publishing company that develops products for parents and therapists to assist special needs children up to age 13, and Abby Port, creator of Red Koala, a company that produces online customizable art for nurseries and children's rooms.