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The National Women’s Business Council strives to place the foundation for policy changes that will economically progress women business owners. Women-owned businesses are the fastest growing sector within small businesses.
The National Women’s Business Council released its annual report on issues in the economy that impact women business owners. As a non-partisan federal advisory council, the NWBC utilizes the report, which covers four main points, to give policy recommendations to the White House, Congress and the U.S. Small Business Administration. The topics dispatched are access to capital, access to markets, data collection, job creation and growth.
Within this past year, NWBC celebrated the anniversary of its creation via the Women’s Business Ownership Act or the H.R. 5050, which was passed 25 years ago. It also put an end to gender-based discriminatory lending practices such as requiring a male to co-sign business loans for female entrepreneurs.
The National Women’s Business Council strives to place the foundation for policy changes that will economically progress women business owners. Women-owned businesses are the fastest growing sector within small businesses.
Since 1997, the number of women-owned businesses has developed 54 percent, but the nationwide average only reaches 37 percent growth. Access to capital seems to be the test that defies complete and sky-rocketing success for women business owners.
Unfortunately, women have been delving into their own pockets to scrounge for the funds needed to start their business. This means that they have less capital for their start-up compared to male business owners. In a domino effect, if more capital was available to women business owners, they would increase their economic gains which would assist in growing the economy overall. The NWBC recommends three solutions to the issue of access to capital:
- Increase lending efforts by credit unions and community banks to women-owned businesses.
- Increase resources available to women business owners on capital/financing strategies.
- Address creditworthiness and capital challenges for startups through exploration of new ways of credit scoring and promotion of crowd funding.
Women need to expand into new markets according to the NWBC’s findings. Competition and quality will increase the productivity of the markets once women filter into the federal marketplace and corporate supply chains. The NWBC found two ways to promote access to markets for women business owners:
- Identify and promote concrete practices in government procurement.
- Identify industries and links in supply chains that are ripe for entry of women-owned businesses.
The NWBC wants to focus on applying innovative strategies to increase the participation of women in federal entrepreneurship programs and other swiftly escalating areas. In order to create more jobs for women entrepreneurs, the NWBC suggests increasing the participation of women-owned businesses in start-ups and established companies while maturing a policy that aims to increase participation of women-owned businesses in all government programs.
Given that the NWBC is the only independent voice for women business owners, data collection must be streamlined for accuracy, availability and timeliness. Data collection is necessary in order to identify and fix the problems that are plaguing women business owners. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will begin data collection on demand for credit. The Census Bureau is starting an annual Survey of Business Owners.
The National Women’s Business Council hopes to make these strides in 2014 as the leading voice for women entrepreneurs across the nation. If you would like more information on the FY2013 annual report, please visit: