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October is National Women’s Small Business month! Join NAWRB, the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC), the Small Business Administration (SBA) and many other organizations in celebrating our women small business owners.
Women-owned businesses, big and small, are on the rise. As the 2012 Survey of Business Owners (SBO) reports, women-owned businesses increased in number by 27.5 percent from 2007 to 2012, an increase of over 2 million businesses. Equally noteworthy, the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Program had a historic month of September, obtaining the power of sole source authority, permitting contracting officers to swiftly and directly award contracts to women-owned small businesses and forego the previous lengthy process.
To honor this year’s Women’s Small Business month the NWBC has established the theme of “10 Million Strong” to celebrate the 10 million women who are starting their own businesses and contributing to the movement for equality and the strengthening of the economy.
Amanda Brown, Executive Director of the NWBC, stated, “With numbers like this, the impact of women-owned businesses on our economy is undeniable. We are excited to recognize the growth of women’s business ownership throughout this month. It’s both a time for celebration and a call to action – the community is growing and diversifying and so too must the ecosystem that supports them. Women-owned businesses have made great strides in the last two decades, despite lower levels of access to capital and markets. Imagine if the doors of opportunity were fully open?”
The doors Brown mentions lead to things like access to capital and contracts, crucial aspects for a new business’s success. Over the years these doors have opened slowly and slightly for women, and with recent advancements they have continued to do so. The goal is to open them all the way and keep them that way, maybe even get rid of the door altogether.
This month we commemorate women-owned small businesses. Here’s to you, and here’s to celebrating you all the other months of the year as well!