According to the Center for Women's Business Research
(www.nfwbo.org),
"Women-owned businesses represent 38% of all businesses in
the United States. Those with 100 or more employees are growing
at six times the rate of the overall economy."
Therefore it is to be expected that a great number of sites on
the Internet have been designed and devoted to serving women Private
Company Owners (PCOs). The organizations and their sites listed
below will hopefully prove useful to you.
Founded as the National Foundation for Women Business Owners, The Center for Women’s Business Research publishes interesting research, including its “Fact of the Week” on this site.
This is the site of The National Women Business Owners Corporation, which is a not-for-profit corporation established as a sister organization to the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and the National Foundation for Women Business Owners (NFWBO). NWBOC’s goal is to increase competition for corporate and government contracts through implementation of a pioneering economic development strategy for women business owners.
The International Women’s Forum is a global organization of 3500 preeminent women of significant and diverse achievement. One of its key initiatives is The Fellows Program, which is designed to promote women in leadership positions. Although much of this site is accessible only to its members, the Fellows Program is explained in detail and would be of interest to many “up and coming” women executives.
Women’s Policy, Inc. bills itself as “The unique source of information on women’s issues in Congress.” It is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization which tracks the progress of pending legislation of special interest to women.
The National Women’s Business Council is a bi-partisan Federal government council created to serve as an independent source of advice and counsel to the President, Congress, SBA, and the Interagency Committee on Women Business and economic issues of importance to women business owners.
This site is maintained by the 125,000 member National Association of Female Executives, which bills itself as “the largest women’s professional association and the largest women business owners’ organization in the country.” It publishes the Female Executive magazine.
Women’s Institute for Financial Education is a volunteer-run, non-profit organization providing financial education to women. Although not aimed PCOs it posts some interesting information.
The mission of the American Business Women’s Association is to bring together businesswomen of diverse occupations. Founded in 1949, it has 1400 local chapters and publishes “Women in Business.” Through this site it offers several on-line training courses.
A national partnership in support of Women’s Business Enterprises, The Women’s Business Enterprise Council, created in 1997, is dedicated to enhancing opportunities for women’s enterprises in America’s major business markets. Its goal is to foster diversity in the world of commerce.
This is the site for the National Minority Business Council, Inc., which was founded in 1972 to help small, minority, and women-owned businesses. Although its programs will mainly benefit those in the NYC area, their site makes available some interesting publications.
The American Woman’s Economic Development Corporation is a New York City headquartered not-for-profit organization training and counseling woman at all levels of business ownership, from start-ups to million dollar enterprises. Since its inception, AWED has helped over 100,000 women, has 15,000 active alumnae, and serves 3000 women each year.
The Women’s Growth Capital Fund was established in Washington, DC in 1997 to make equity investments in early and expansion stage women-owned and/or managed businesses. Today it has over 70 investors and $30 million under management.
BWNi.com is a partnership of the Business Women’s Network (BWN) in Washington, DC, and a division of the women-owned Public Affairs Group, Inc. Their site has some good Government Procurement links.
The Center for Women and Information Technology at the University of Maryland Baltimore County seeks to close the gender gap in IT. This is their site.
This E-Magnify site is maintained by Seton Hill College as a regionally focused, nationally reaching community that integrates educational, business development, and career resources for women.
Recently renamed the Office of Government Contracting and Business Development, this SBA unit helps “small, disadvantaged, and women-owned businesses build their potential to compete more successfully in our global economy.”
Womenfuture creates programs to inspire individuals to develop themselves both professionally and personally by connecting them with world-class leaders. They host many programs worldwide which attract many of the world’s most successful women.
Founded in 1993, the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs’ mission is to start, build, manage and invest in high growth technology and life sciences companies. Headquartered in the Bay Area, it has regional offices in LA, San Diego, Colorado, and Texas.
The Institute for Women’s Leadership was founded in 1992 to address organizational culture issues that resulted in women being unable to break through the glass ceiling at a large high tech firm in Silicon Valley. It offers several training programs.
Springboard Enterprises is a national non-profit venture dedicated to increasing women’s participation in the equity capital markets as both entrepreneurs and investors.
The National Association of Women Business Owners states that it is the only dues-based U.S. national organization representing the interests of all women entrepreneurs in all types of businesses.
Catalyst is a nonprofit research and advisory organization working to advance women in business, with offices in New York and Toronto. For the last three years, Catalyst has been ranked by the American Institute of Philanthropy as the highest rated nonprofit in the U.S. focused on women's issues.
The Committee of 200 is a worldwide organization of preeminent women entrepreneurs and corporate executives. Started in Los Angeles in 1982, today it has 425 women members representing 80 industries with a 70/30 mix of entrepreneurs and corporate executives.
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