Accessing Government Markets: An Issues Roundtable Discussion

[ Summary Report ]

[ Research in Brief ]

[ Press Release ]

Analyzing the Impact of the Women's Business Center Program

[ Full Report ] [ Research Brief ] [ Press Release ]

6/2004

Best Practices in Supporting Women's Entrepreneurship: A Compendium of Public and Private Sector Organizations and Initiatives

[ Full Report ] [ Research in Brief ]
[ Press Release ]

This report profiles 24 selected organizations or initiatives that provide outstanding support for women-owned businesses and that have widespread impact throughout the United States. The report also contains a functional matrix that shows at a glance how the profiled organizations compare with each other in terms of the kind of support and assistance they offer to women entrepreneurs.

6/2004

Policy and Progress: Supporting the Growth of Women's Business Enterprise

[ Full Report ] [ Policy and Progress Timeline ] [ Research in Brief ] [ Press Release ]

This report documents the legal and policy changes that have had an impact on the growth of women's business enterprises over the past several decades and serves to benchmark the progress that has been made from a policy standpoint, including key programs, legislation and necessary precursors to entry. This report explores policy barriers that still remain for women entrepreneurs and includes recommendations for direction in areas that still need to be addressed by the federal government and private sector.

11/2003

Enterprising Women: The Legacy and the Future

[ Full Report ][ Issue in Brief ]
[ Press Release ]

Summarizes a series of discussion groups with women business owners in Lexington, MA; New York, NY; and Atlanta, GA. These discussions were held in conjunction with the exhibit, Enterprising Women: 250 Years of American Business, developed by the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. The discussions provided a forum to hear women's reflections on the history of women as entrepreneurs in America and the issues they face as business owners today.

9/2003

Women's Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century: A Summary of Data from National and Regional Summits

[ Full report ] [ Summary ] [ Press Release ]

During 2002, the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Department of Labor, with support from the White House and the National Women's Business Council, held a national women's business summit followed by regional summits in Connecticut, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas. At each of these economic seminars, participants answered questions pertaining to the issues facing them in their businesses via hand-held radio-controlled devices, which provided nearly instant feedback to the audiences. This project collected and analyzed this information to ascertain the overall issue priorities of the seminar attendees and to determine the most significant subgroup variations.

7/2003

Mentoring in the Business Environment

[ Full Report ] [ Summary ] [ Press Release ]

This study examines existing, formal mentoring programs for women and men business owners by comparing program structures, identifying best practices, and exploring the unique characteristics among programs geared specifically to women. The study also reviews existing research on mentoring for women business owners and suggests avenues for additional exploration such as e-mentoring.

5/2003

Access to Affordable Health Coverage for Women-Owned Businesses: A Summary of Key Issues and Policy Options

[ Full Report ]

Women business owners are growing increasingly concerned about the difficulty of securing affordable health-care coverage for employees. It is estimated that 60 percent of the 41 million uninsured Americans reside in families with members employed by small businesses. The NWBC estimates that 7.3 million of the uninsured are employees or families of employees of the 9.1 million women-owned firms in the U.S. This report takes an in-depth look at this critical issue and includes an analysis of current research and the alternative solutions that have been proposed.

5/2003

Summary Report: Roundtable on Access to Affordable Health Care Coverage by Women-Owned Businesses

[ Full Report ] [ Summary ]
[ Press Release ]

In response to the feedback received from women business owners across the country, the NWBC convened a Roundtable discussion in February 2003 to hear from those who struggle with the challenge of providing affordable health-care coverage. The Roundtable brought together women business owners, business association leaders, issue experts, and public-policy makers from across the U.S. to discuss not only the concerns involved in this issue, but also the most effective solutions that should be considered in the 108th Congress. This report is the complete transcript of that event and includes testimony from Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao, Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration Hector Barreto, and Representative Donald Manzullo, Chair of the House Committee on Small Business.

2/2003

Women-owned Small Businesses in Federal Subcontracting: Measures and Data.

[ Full Report ] [ Summary ]
[ Press Release ]

Women-owned firms continue to be under-represented in the federal procurement arena. With respect to subcontracting in particular, they received just under 5 percent of reported subcontracts in FY1999 and 2000. An analysis of the capacity of women-owned small firms has disproved the theory that this under-representation may be due to a lower ability of women-owned firms to perform in the federal procurement arena.

12/2002

Getting to Success: Helping Women Business Owners Gain Access to Capital. A Study of Best Practices in Access to Capital Training Programs for Women Business Owners

[ Full Report ] [ Summary ]
[ Press Release ]

In a review of more than 100 access-to-capital programs across the country, including a detailed analysis of nine such programs, it was found that successful programs share these common characteristics: community focus; feedback response; realistic expectations; and staff commitment and experience.

10/2001

An Investigation of Women-Led Firms and Venture Capital Investment

[ Full Report ]

This study on venture capital funding for women- and minority-led businesses confirms that despite the growth in equity investment, women and minority entrepreneurs still are receiving only a very small share of equity capital. Three possible reasons why such firms may receive less equity investment are: choice of industry, geographic location, and business size.

9/2001

A Compendium of National Statistics on Women-Owned Businesses in the U.S .

[ Full Report ]

This publication is a single-source document of statistical information about women's business ownership in the United States. It includes the most sought-after facts and figures on women's entrepreneurship in the U.S., and includes a bibliography of both source references and recommended publications. This compendium is intended to help decision-makers navigate through the inconsistencies and patchwork of available information to gain a more complete picture of the trends in women's entrepreneurship in the U.S. It also brings together in one place all of the relevant information about women-owned businesses and their owners.

11/2000

United States Case Study: Successful Public and Private Sector Initiatives Fostering the Growth of Women's Business Ownership

[ Full Report ]

We offer this Case Study as a tool for our colleagues around the world to aid in fostering women's business ownership. While not an exhaustive catalog, this Case Study showcases programs that have been implemented successfully by both government and private sector institutions. In implementing these programs, our leaders have recognized the strategic importance of investing in women's entrepreneurship over the long run.

10/2000

Economic Prosperity, Women and Access to Credit

[ Full Report ]

While capital flow to women entrepreneurs is on the rise, it by no means parallels the extraordinary growth of women-owned businesses in the United States. This report examines current lending practices and highlights financing strategies and new programs around the nation aimed at these entrepreneurs that are making great progress in increasing funding for these new market enterprises.

9/2000

Women-Owned Firms in Federal Procurement: A National Survey

[ Full Report ]

This report sheds additional light on some of the issues affecting women-owned firms in federal procurement. It draws upon information from a national survey taken among women business owners from a variety of industries who had a prime federal contract in FY1997. The results of this study add to public knowledge of the characteristics, contributions, and challenges of women-owned businesses in the federal procurement arena, and form a framework for public-policy recommendations and further programmatic efforts.

10/1999

Women-Owned Firms in Federal Procurement: A Focus Group Report

[ Full Report ]

This report summarizes the results of focus group discussions held among women in two geographic areas: Washington, D.C. (specifically northern Virginia), and San Francisco, CA. The objectives of this qualitative research were five-fold: explore the paths these women took to federal contracting; learn about who or what helped them enter into the Federal procurement marketplace; discuss their past and current challenges in the market; explore their views on recent trends in federal procurement and how these trends are affecting them; and probe their ideas and suggestions for how to improve federal procurement system.

7/1999

NWBC Best Practices Guide: Contracting with Women

[ Full Report ]

This Guide identifies model programs that have been effective in increasing competitive contracting opportunities for women-owned firms in the public and private sectors and identifies some of the key elements of successful supplier diversity programs. The Guide builds on a decade of inquiry by the Council into the challenges and opportunities for women seeking access to markets for their goods and services.

4/1999

Women-Owned Firms in Federal Procurement: A Comparative Analysis

[ Full Report ]

This analysis is a first-ever, in-depth review of the characteristics of women-owned firms in federal contracting and a comparison of those characteristics with those of all women-owned firms. It will enable public-policy makers, government procurement officials, women business owners themselves, and other interested parties to gain a greater understanding of the women entrepreneurs who are providing products and services to federal government agencies.