The National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) held a town hall meeting for women business owners in Portland, Oregon on June 5. This free event was designed to promote dialogue among the Portland-Vancouver women’s business community and to further the Council’s mission of connecting the women’s business community to policymakers. Breakout sessions focused on specific policy areas, such as affordable health care, access to capital, procurement, and taxes, and allowed participants to discuss the challenges and priorities they face running their businesses.

Kathryn Eshelman, President and Co-Founder of Columbus, OH-based Grade A Notes, Charter Member of the Women Presidents’ Organization, and a NWBC member, moderated the program, which included welcome remarks from Lydia Muniz, the Oregon Governor’s Advocate for Minority, Women and Emerging Small Businesses. Connie Marshall, Regional Advocate for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy also shared research on the status of women’s business ownership in Portland, Oregon, and the United States. Later in the day, Council members Susan Au Allen, U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce, and Beverly Inman-Ebel, National Association of Women Business Owners, as well as Pat Granum of Portland-area Co-Operations, Inc. served as panelists during an open discussion with town hall participants.

The Council held a similar event in St. Louis, Missouri in March. Recommendations gathered during both events will be compiled later this year in a report that will contribute to the Council’s policy recommendations to the President, Congress, and the Small Business Administration.

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Two members of the National Women’s Business Council, Rebecca Boenigk and Kathy Eshelman, have been selected to participate in the Iraqi Women's Economic Empowerment Partnership, an initiative launched this month by the U.S. Department of State. Boenigk and Eshelman are two of only eight women business owners selected to participate in this pilot program.

The partnership’s goal is to link American business women with current or aspiring Iraqi women business owners to facilitate initiate an online relationship that focuses on information sharing about growing one's business. The long term goals of the initiative are to increase cross-cultural communication, to build sustainable relationships and networks between American and Iraqi women, and to promote entrepreneurship among Iraqi women.

For more information on the Council’s participation in this initiative, contact Margaret Barton.

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Council Chair Tami Longaberger represented the Council as part of the U.S. delegation to the 2007 Global Summit of Women in Berlin, Germany this month. Longaberger was asked by the U.S. Department of State to talk about the issues and challenges facing women in leadership roles with hundreds of other women from around the world. For seventeen years, the Summit has celebrated women’s leadership worldwide by bringing together women business, professional and government leaders from around the world.

Also this month, Council Executive Director Margaret Barton participated in the London Development Agency’s Women’s Enterprise Conference in London, England. The event aimed to increase the number of women starting and growing businesses in the U.K. and to enhance and coordinate strategies for supporting women’s enterprise. During the one-day conference on June 18, Barton served on a panel on Women’s Enterprise in the U.S. Barton also had a chance to discuss the Council’s mission and government programs from women-owned businesses with the British Minister of Women, Meg Munn MP, during her trip.

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The Center for Women's Business Research and Babson College held the second of several national research forums aimed at uncovering the barriers and challenges faced by women of color entrepreneurs on May 30 in Atlanta, GA. NWBC staff members Emily Reynolds and Katherine Stanley served as table facilitators during the event, which was partially sponsored by the Council. The Center for Women’s Business Research will host three additional events in San Francisco (7/11), Dallas (9/20), and Chicago (1/24).

Information gained from these forums will help lead to action plans for overcoming barriers to business growth for women of color entrepreneurs on the individual, community and national levels, as well as help formulate public- and private-sector policy recommendations. Women-of-color entrepreneurs who wish to grow their businesses to the next level and contribute to setting local and national agendas that support the success of businesses owned by women of color are encouraged to apply to participate. Selection criteria include owning a business that is at least 50% woman-owned with annual revenues between $250,000 and $5 million. All types of industries are welcome. To participate, click here or contact the Center for Women’s Business Research at 202.638.3060 ext. 710.

NWBC staff member Emily Reynolds also represented the Council at the National Association of Women Business Owners annual member conference in Atlanta, GA on May 31- June 2. Women entrepreneurs from across the country gathered at this conference to attend workshops and to connect with other NAWBO members, industry experts, and partnering organizations to share their business successes, build leadership skills, and make connections for continued business achievement. Keynote speakers for the conference included: Donna Orender, President of the WNBA; Patricia Russell-McCloud, President, Russell-McCloud & Associates, Author, and Speaker; and Gloria Steinem, Feminist and Author. For post-event materials and pictures, please click here.

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For the fourth year, NWBC presented the Best Paper Award for Women's Entrepreneurship at the International Council for Small Business World Conference in Turku, Finland this month. After a review of qualifying papers, the award was presented to Barbara Orser, Martine Spence, and Allan Riding of the University of Ottawa in Canada, as well as Christine A. Carrington of the Small Business Policy Branch of Industry Canada, for their paper, “Export Propensity and Performance: Understanding the Influence of Gender.”

The paper draws on theories of how small and medium sized enterprises internationalize to develop a better understanding of predisposition to exporting and the impact of gender of ownership. The authors found that controlling for factors such as sector and firm differences, women majority-owned firms were significantly less likely to export. The paper provides the first large-scale evidence to support anecdotal references to gender-related barriers to export, suggesting the need to focus on both owner and firm development, as well as explicit market interventions, to address gender-based impediments to international trade.

For more information on the ICSB Best Paper Award for Women’s Entrepreneurship, contact NWBC Executive Director Margaret Barton. Click here to read the winning paper.

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The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) has announced three new conferences for minority and women-owned small businesses. The Expanding Horizons conferences, being held in cooperation with NWBC and the Minority Business Development Agency, will take place in Newark, NJ (September 27), Houston, TX (October 18), and San Francisco (November 15).

Conference participants will learn about challenges and opportunities for overseas and cross-border investment, government programs designed to assist minority and women-owned businesses expand globally, and accessing capital for overseas projects. Speakers will include senior government officials from OPIC and other agencies, international bankers, and representatives from businesses investing overseas who will share their insights and experiences. Networking opportunities will be available and participants will be able to arrange one-on-one meetings with OPIC officials.

For more information on this or other upcoming OPIC events, please call 866-636-4729 or e-mail opic@trademeetings.com.

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The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy presented a “Best Paper” award to a paper examining how potential entrepreneurs approach self-employment at the Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference held in Madrid, Spain this month. According to the paper’s authors, entering self-employment part-time rather than moving directly into full-time self-employment can minimize the uncertainty related to self-employment.

The authors state that entrepreneurs used part-time entry as a strategy to test their ideas when they have little information about their true value. In addition, part-time self-employment can allow entrepreneurs to retain their employment while testing the viability of the self-employment choice, offering not only a secondary income, but also a first step into full-time self-employment.

Click here for a copy of this report or here for the research summary.

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