At its last meeting, the National Women’s Business Council approved several new projects, many of which are designed to facilitate broader outreach to the women’s business community.  Since the meeting, the Council staff has begun work on several initiatives that will be the focus of the Council’s work in the coming year. 

To start, the Council will be upgrading its database to ensure that it reaches the broadest and most appropriate audience.  You may have already been contacted with a request to update your information. Please email your information to nwbc@sba.gov.  The Council will also be reaching out next year with two town hall meetings designed to allow members of the Council to hear directly from women business owners about their challenges and concerns.  During these events, planned for the first half of 2007 in St. Louis, MO and Portland, OR, the Council hopes to promote dialogue among the women’s business community in order to drive future policy recommendations. Stay tuned for further details about these two events.  

NWBC has also begun Spanish translation of the content on www.womenbiz.gov, a web site offering tips and resources for women-owned businesses seeking federal procurement opportunities.  With high levels of growth in business ownership among Latinas, the Council hopes this resource will reach more people with this translation.  The Spanish-language version of www.womenbiz.gov should be online by the beginning of 2007.   

Finally, the Council has begun several new projects related to research.  One project involves using customized data sets from the Census Bureau’s 2002 Survey of Business Owners to analyze recent trends in women’s business ownership.  A second initiative will be a thorough audit of currently available research in women’s business ownership and entrepreneurship in order to provide a detailed listing of this research on NWBC's Web site. 

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Small Business Television Network (SBTV.com), led by Council member Susan Solovic, was recognized by the Women’s Technology Cluster as the Best Investment Opportunity at the organization’s 2006 Entrepreneur Venture Conference in Mountain View, California earlier this month.  SBTV.com, the only online television network focused entirely on providing news and information to entrepreneurs, was among 27 companies selected to present at the conference, the only major national event to promote women-led technology startups to the Silicon Valley investment community.  After winning this year’s award, SBTV.com CEO Solovic stated, “With only 5% of VC money finding its way into women-led start-ups, WTC’s annual Entrepreneur Venture Conference provides an excellent platform for women-led technology companies.”  Click here to read more.

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On Tuesday October 3, Senator George Allen (R-VA) held a special hearing of the Senate Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA.  During the hearing, which focused on challenges faced by women-owned businesses in government contracting, Senator Allen heard testimony from representatives of the Small Business Administration and the General Services Agency and women’s business organizations like the National Association of Women Business Owners and Women Impacting Public Policy on contracting opportunities for women-owned businesses. (Click here to read NAWBO's testimony.) In addition, several women business owners discussed their struggles in the federal procurement marketplace, including concerns about size limits, contract bundling, and subcontracting. 

In his remarks, Senator Allen questioned whether lack of enforcement of contracting requirements by federal agencies is being sufficiently addressed to level the playing field for women-owned businesses.  Testimony from this hearing will be sued by the Small Business Committee to put forward potential solutions to women-owned businesses’ unique challenges.

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The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) launched a new web site this month to provide small business owners with a one-stop source to search for federal government compliance information.  Business.gov conveniently locates compliance information from all major federal government agencies regulating or serving small businesses.  The site provides compliance search results, a comprehensive catalog of federal government forms, a directory of knowledgeable government contacts, links to key industry resources and “how to” information for starting, growing and managing a business.

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NWBC Executive Director Margaret Barton addressed the annual national conference of The National Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers.  This three day conference is designed to promote university collaboration in the areas of entrepreneurship education, research, fundraising, and outreach programs.  During her remarks, Barton highlighted key trends in women’s business ownership and urged attendees to address the unique needs and challenges of women entrepreneurs at the university level.  Barton’s suggestions spurred extensive discussion among attendees about how best to reach this influential segment of the economy and the Council anticipates working closely with these institutions in the future to ensure that the academic needs of women entrepreneurs are being met.

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Earlier this month in Chicago, the National Women’s Business Council cooperated with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) on the second of three workshops designed to assist women-owned businesses in investing in the global marketplace. The workshop, entitled “Expanding Horizons,” highlighted the opportunities and challenges of overseas investment in addition to providing information on OPIC’s programs in support of minority and women-owned businesses.

 

Council member Ann Marie Almeida will represent NWBC at the third event, scheduled for November 16 in Los Angeles. Other speakers will include senior officials from OPIC and other government agencies, international bankers, and representatives from businesses investing overseas who will share their insights and experiences. Click here for more information or to register to attend the November workshop.

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This month, the Center for Women's Business Research released a new study that explores the exit strategies women business owners make for leaving their businesses.  The report, Exit Strategies of Women and Men Business Owners, concludes that women are just as likely as men to have a long term strategy for selling, handing down, or closing their businesses.  The study also found that women business owners are more likely than their male counterparts to consider the impact on their employees when selling their businesses and are nearly twice as likely as men to intend to pass their businesses on to their daughters.