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The National Women’s Business Council has much to
celebrate, including the addition of new members and staff this year.
Marianne Sensale-Guerin joined the Council this January. Marianne is
President and Owner of Gorham, Maine-based Guerin Associates, LLC, an
environmental services and home heating oil delivery service and was named
to the Council in January. In 2005, she was named National and Maine
Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business
Administration.
In April, the Council also welcomed Patricia M. Soldano
as a member representing Women Impacting Public Policy, a national
bi-partisan public policy organization representing women business owners.
Pat is president and CEO of Cymric Family Office Services, a
multi-family office offering investment services, estate planning, business
management, and succession planning. Marianne and Pat bring their extensive
experience as business owners to the Council.
In addition, we have several new staff members on the
NWBC team. Margaret Mankin Barton joined NWBC as Executive Director in
October. Margaret has more than 25 years of experience in the Federal
government, politics, and public relations. Allison Gilmore, NWBC’s new
Director of Communications and Research Analysis, comes to the Council staff
with several years experience in communications and associations and is
responsible for this newsletter, the NWBC web site, media outreach, and
management of our research projects. Margaret and Allison join Katherine
Stanley, NWBC's Operations Manager.
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In January, the National Women’s Business Council hosted
a White House Briefing for leaders of the women’s business community. The
briefing included updates on diplomacy and homeland security issues by Under
Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes and
Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Frances
Townsend. The briefing was followed by a reception honoring new NWBC Chair
Tami Longaberger.
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The 2005 Annual Report of the National Women’s Business
Council, which details the Council’s activities and policy recommendations
from the previous fiscal year, is
now available on the NWBC web site.
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The National Women’s Business Council offers free monthly
conference calls with timely topics for women business owners and
entrepreneurs. Conducted the fourth Tuesday of every month, Women’s Business
Connection calls offer women business owners an opportunity to learn about
issues impacting the growth and success of their businesses from business and
policy experts. The next Women’s Business Connection call, offering an update
on Women’s Business Centers and how they support women’s entrepreneurial
development across the country, will take place on Tuesday, April 25th
at 3 p.m. eastern. Click
here for more details.
Recent calls covered issues such as disaster planning
(March), tax tips (February), and access to capital (January). Recordings of
all Women’s Business Connection calls are archived and can be accessed
here. In addition, starting this year, archived calls
can also be accessed at
www.sbtv.com.
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The staff of the National Women's Business Council
continues to connect with women business owners and organizations supporting
women's entrepreneurship. In recent months, NWBC staff have participated in
several meetings and workshops organized by the Administration, federal
agencies and sister organizations throughout the Washington area.
NWBC Executive Director Margaret Barton joined in a high-level consultative
meeting at the World Bank to discuss gender parity for education, one of the
Millennium Development Goals, and an event at the White House with President
and Mrs. Bush in honor of International Women’s Day. Other events included
meetings concerning the re-building efforts in Iraq and the contracting
opportunities for Iraqi and U.S. women and a dinner marking the 30th
anniversary of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
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The Small Business Administration will honor
National Small Business Week April 12-13 in Washington, DC. The two-day
conference will focus on small business accomplishments and showcase small
businesses recovering from disasters. During the event, the SBA will announce
the National Small Business Person of the Year and recognize State Small
Business Persons of the Year from across the country.
In February, the SBA announced its fiscal year 2007 budget. The budget
calls for $743,000 in funding for NWBC. In addition, the budget requests $12
million to fund Women's Business Centers.
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In March, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions Committee approved legislation that would give small businesses
greater flexibility in offering health insurance to their employees,
including the right to join together to purchase health insurance exempt
from state coverage requirements. The legislation would create a national
standard on what insurers can charge businesses, ideally lowering insurance
costs for small businesses. Critics argue the bill would lead to higher
premiums and lower benefits for consumers.
House Small Business Committee Chairman Donald Manzullo
(R-IL) introduced the Equity for Our Nation’s Self-Employed Act (H.R. 4961)
to help America’s 25 million small business owners better afford health
insurance for their families and employees. The legislation would allow
small business owners to deduct health care costs from their payroll taxes.
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NWBC will be exhibiting and hosting a breakout session at
the upcoming 2006 Office of Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU)
Procurement National Conference April 20, 2006, at the Show Place Arena in
Upper Marlboro, Maryland. This national conference fosters business
partnerships between the Federal Government, its Prime Contractors, and small,
minority, service-disabled veteran-owned, HUBZone, veteran-owned, and
women-owned businesses.
NWBC’s session, Women-Owned Businesses: Success Stories,
will be moderated by Nancy Small, WOSB, 8a/SDB Program Manager, Office of the
Secretary of the Army, and will be the first to focus on women-owned
businesses. Panelists, including Council member Sheri Orlowitz, Shan
Industries, LLC, will share their experiences with winning government
contracts. For more information, visit
www.osdbu.gov.
Click here
for a complete listing of upcoming events for women business owners.
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In January, the U.S. Census Bureau released new data from
the 2002 Survey of Business Owners that indicates the number of women-owned
businesses in the U.S. grew 20 percent, twice the national average, between
1997 and 2002. The Census report states that women owned 6.5 million
businesses in 2002, and those that had employees (14%) accounted for more than
7.1 million jobs. Women-owned firms grew fastest in Nevada, Georgia, Florida,
and New York. Visit the Census Bureau
web site for more information.
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At an event in Washington, DC, Count Me in for Women’s
Economic Independence and OPEN from American Express launched the 2006
Make Mine a $Million
Business campaign on International Women’s Day, encouraging women to
declare their intention to build million dollar businesses. In its second
year, the Make Mine a $Million campaign provides mentoring, marketing
assistance and loans to help women business owners grow their businesses.
In kicking off the 2006 campaign, Count Me In President Nell Merlino set the
goal of having one million women-owned businesses with revenues of $1 million
or more by 2010. Nearly 250,000 women-owned enterprises have already
reached that milestone, according to recent data.
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