| Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP), the nation’s largest bi-partisan women’s business group, and The American Small Business Coalition (The ASBC), a leading business membership organization providing companies with access to information and relationships critical to doing business in the federal sector, have formed a partnership to create growth opportunities for women entrepreneurs.
“One of the biggest hurdles for women business owners to enter the federal contracting arena is identifying the buyer of their products and services within the federal government. This partnership with The ASBC will help facilitate matchmaking activities between women entrepreneurs and prospective customers in the government,” said Barbara Kasoff, president of WIPP.
| Poll: More women are setting out on-their-own
An increasing number of women are leaving big companies to start their own businesses according to a recent report by The Conference Board. Supporting that trend is a Small Business Administration (SBA) report that it has issued 50 percent more small business loans to women in 2005 than in the year prior.
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In the WIPP 2005 annual national survey of women business owners, “What Women Want,” 60 percent of respondents stated that the inability to get to the “buyers” in the federal government was the leading challenge to winning federal contracts. The complete survey is available online at this link.
“Women entrepreneurs are clearly emerging as a strong economic power base. The ASBC enhances their ability to identify opportunities and teaming partners in the federal sector,” said Guy Timberlake, chief visionary officer and co-founder of The ASBC.
Currently, nearly half of all privately held businesses are owned by women and growing nearly twice as fast as other companies. However, only 2.6 percent of federal contracts are awarded to women-owned companies, which is short of the 5 percent set-aside goal mandated by Congress in 2000.
In addition to participation in WIPP Legislative Issue Committees, WIPP members can leverage The ASBC membership by receiving Capitol Hill based legislative benefits including regular updates on information concerning small business economic issues and discounts on special events and trainings.
For more information, visit www.wipp.org. |
