Barbara Kasoff, Vice President and Co-Founder of GrassRoots Impact, Inc., has been appointed to a three-year term on the National Women’s Business Council. GrassRoots Impact, Inc. is a public policy strategies firm whose mission is to connect corporate America and political leaders to small business owners, including women-owned businesses, minorities, and women in business. Kasoff is also the President, CEO, and Co-Founder of Women Impacting Public Policy, Inc. (WIPP), a non-profit, public policy advocacy organization with over half a million members advocating on economic issues for women in business. Click here to learn more about Barbara.
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NWBC Director of Communications & Research Analysis Allison Gilmore recently attended the Third Annual Research Conference of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) in Washington, DC. GEM, a partnership between the London Business School and Babson College, annually analyzes data on national levels of entrepreneurial activity worldwide. In 2006, GEM conducted research in 42 countries.
The event, which attracted over 100 people from 15 countries, included presentations of papers on international entrepreneurship based on GEM data. In addition, representatives from international development organizations, such as the World Bank, the Inter American Development Bank, Endeavor, and The Council on Foreign Relations spoke about their programs designed to encourage and support business ownership and entrepreneurship globally.
Click here for more information about the conference.
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The Council continued its outreach in the small business community in recent weeks through staff involvement in several events. On September 20, NWBC Deputy Director of Communications & Outreach Emily Reynolds served as a facilitator at the Center for Women’s Business Research “Accelerating the Growth of Businesses Owned by Women of Color” forum in Dallas, Texas. The fourth in a series of forums, the Dallas event will help the Center to uncover the challenges and barriers that women-of-color entrepreneurs are facing in their attempts to grow their businesses. The Center will hold one additional panel in January in Chicago before the research culminates in a national event in Washington, DC in May 2008. Click here for more information or to apply for the Chicago forum.
Council Executive Director Margaret Barton participated in two events sponsored by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) for women and minority business owners in the last month. The Expanding Horizons workshops, held in Newark, NJ on September 27 and Houston, TX on October 18, were designed to address the unique challenges that minority- and women-owned businesses face in their efforts to gain entry to the global marketplace. Barton spoke at both events, which were cosponsored by NWBC and the Minority Business Development Agency. OPIC will hold one additional workshop in San Francisco on November 15. Click here for more information or to register.
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A new report released by the Center for Women’s Business Research highlights the importance of women entrepreneurs planning to exit their companies. The report, Exiting Your Business: Serendipity or Strategy, examines steps women should take and missteps they should avoid when preparing both professionally and personally for exiting their businesses, whether by selling, handing down to a child, or closing.
The study, which analyzes nine in-depth interviews with women whose businesses generated $4 million or more annually in revenues, is a companion to the quantitative report released in 2006, Exit Strategies of Women and Men Business Owners. The interviews reinforce the findings of the previous study and detail how these women handled exiting their businesses and their ensuing life choices.
To learn more about this research, visit www.womensbusinessresearch.org.
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Earlier this month, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced a new initiative to boost entrepreneurship in 10 American inner cities. This latest component of SBA’s strategy to advance entrepreneurship in underserved markets will provide intensive training and counseling to provide emerging inner city businesses with the skills they need to move to the next level.
This program is part of a broader initiative to accelerate entrepreneurship in underserved markets, which began last month with the announcement of Rural Lender Advantage, a simpler loan approval process designed to spur economic growth in America’s rural communities. This program, which will begin in six states before expanding nationwide, will encourage smaller, rural lenders to partner with SBA by requiring less paperwork, offering services online, and providing greater lender support.
To learn more about either of these programs, visit the SBA web site.
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On October 4, 2007, SBA Administrator Steven C. Preston testified before the House Small Business Committee to discuss legislation that would update and modify the SBA’s federal contracting programs. During the hearing, the Committee expressed concern with the SBA’s oversight of key contracting initiatives for small disadvantaged firms, such as the 8(a), HubZone, and Veterans programs. Members of the Committee also questioned the SBA’s continued failure to implement a 2001 congressionally-mandated procurement program for women-owned small businesses.
During his testimony, Administrator Preston agreed that small businesses deserve their fair share of federal contracts. However, the SBA and many in Congress disagree over what steps are necessary to strengthen small firms’ ability to secure federal contracts. To view the SBA’s stance on these sited programs, please click here. Visit this site to view video clips of the testimony.
In a move related to the Committee’s discussion of the women’s procurement program, on October 11, the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce filed a request for a hearing with the U.S. District Court. The request seeks an assessment from the judge of the SBA’s “unconscionable delay” in implementing the program. This move comes in response to the SBA’s submission of a new regulation to precede implementation of the program. Stay tuned for future updates from NWBC on the progress of the program.
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On October 4, the National Association for the Self Employed (NASE) hosted a teleconference to announce the introduction in the U.S. House of Representatives of legislation that would eliminate a current requirement for millions of self-employed business owners to pay payroll taxes on the cost of their healthcare premiums. Sponsored by Representatives Wally Herger (R- CA) and Ron Kind (D-WI), HR.3660 would allow sole proprietors to deduct the cost of health insurance premiums as a business expense when calculating their self-employment tax.
Currently, sole proprietors are the only business entities not allowed to deduct health premiums as a business expense and forgo FICA taxes on these expenses. Please stay tuned for updates as they arise. For more information on this issue, visit The Coalition Supporting Equity for Our Nation’s Self-Employed.
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