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10/7/2010
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Greetings, It's been a busy couple of days for the team at the Center for Women's Business Research including two major programs, first with NWBC and WIPP and then the White House Women's Entrepreneurship Conference. The level of discussion on women's entrepreneurship is higher than ever with repeated calls for the need for deeper and more focused research that supports direct action. This is music to our ears.
I was delighted to represent CWBR at the Sept. 29th National Women's Business Council's Summit on "Accessing Capital and Financing Growth, " a key session of WIPP's (Women Impacting Public Policy) 2010 Annual Leadership Conference. NWBC and WIPP had asked us a few months ago if we could conduct a follow up study to study on the economic impact of women owned business and investigate when and why women business owners decided to hire or as is more often the case, not hire. We, of course, turned to W-Biz, our online survey research panel, and have found some quite intriguing findings. We presented our initial findings at the Summit and had a quite active discussion with the business owners in the audience. Please stay tuned to this spot for further details of those findings. Your teaser women owners with more than ten employees and those with less than ten employees think about their "manageable size" in quite different ways. If you add in the situation of growing up in a family business add another 25% difference in growth expectations. As I said, stay tuned.
Then came the Oct. 4th White House Women's Entrepreneurship Conference. This was a big day and included opening remarks by Tina Tchen, Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement & Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls, Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President & Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls, and Karen Mills, Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Administrator Mills remarks included three special announcements on the appointment of Donna James as the incoming Chair of the National Women's Business Council, the announcement of the awarding of four additional Women's Business Centers, and the passing of the final rules related to women's government contracting. Each of the announcements received a warm reception from the audience of women business owners, folks from various government agencies and representatives of organizations that support women businesses and their owners. Following the welcoming remarks we heard from a panel including Rebecca Blank, Undersecretary for Economic Affairs in the U.S. Department of Commerce, Marie Johns, Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration, and two women entrepreneurs Theresa Daytner of Daytner Construction Group and Bobbi Brown of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics. The panel, moderated by Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC's Morning Joe, had a lively discussion around women starting and growing businesses.
The organizers dedicated the rest of the conference to hearing from all the participants as to major issues and ideas for solutions and next steps. The assigned topics included start-up, "missing middle", growth, workplace flexibility, and youth entrepreneurship. As a moderator, I was delighted to be able to provide data from our Center for Women's Business Research to ground the discussion. Our brand new study was particularly useful as it clearly illustrates how differently various women entrepreneurs think about growth. Ideas discussed ranged from deep interest in government contracting, virtual businesses, social entrepreneurship, mentoring and advisory boards, and so much more.
So to close, if you are reading this blog you are on our homepage. Please take a few more minutes to learn more about W-Biz Insight , our national online survey research panel devoted exclusively to women business owners. IF you are already a participating panelist, thank you and be sure to complete our current study, the KEY4Women Confidence Survey. We thoroughly appreciate your participation!
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Center for Women's Business Research Elects Next Chair of the Board
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Dr. Patricia G. Greene Assumes Center Leadership
July 14, 2010, Washington, D.C. Dr. Patricia G. Greene, former Provost of Babson College where she currently holds the the title of F.W. Olin Distinguished Chair in Entrepreneurship was just elected to a 2 year term as Chair of the Board of the Center for Women's Business Research. The Center, a 20 year old Washington, DC based research organization dedicated to women's entrepreneurship, provides data driven-knowledge which helps advance the economic, social and political impact of women business owners and their enterprises.
Dr. Greene has a long career in entrepreneurial research and program building. Her current project at Babson is to lead the design team for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses national curriculum. Her research agenda focuses upon entrepreneurial resources, particularly acquisition of resources by women and minority entrepreneurs. She is a founding member of the Diana Project, a research group focusing on women and the venture capital industry. In 2007 the Diana Project was awarded the SFS-NUTEK Award, given to recognize those who produce scientific work of outstanding quality and importance related to entrepreneurship. The Diana Projects books include International Women's Entrepreneurship: Research on the Growth of Women Owned Businesses, Women and Entrepreneurship: Contemporary Classics, Clearing the Hurdles: Women Building High Growth Businesses (republished in Chinese). Dr. Greene's work also includes the edited volumes, Entrepreneurship Education (with M. Rice) and the forthcoming University Based Entrepreneurship Ecosystems: Global Practices (with M. Fetters, M. Rice, & J. Butler). Her work has been published in numerous national and international academic journals. She also currently serves on the national advisory board for the SBA's SBDC program, the national advisory board for NAWBO, as special academic advisor to the Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute and as a research fellow at the IC2 Institute of the University of Texas at Austin. She formerly worked in the health care industry.
Dr Greene plans to continue the transformative work started under the current chair Beverly A. Holmes, to move the Center to a 21st century research organization through the application of technology driven real time research; conducted by a global network of recognized researchers; building out the research panel focus groups of diverse women business owners from all over the world ("Wbiz Insight") and working through a collaboration of partnerships with educational institutions, corporations, government entities, policy makers, women's organizations and women business owners.
Dr. Greene stated, "I have relied upon the data from the Center for Women's Business Research my entire academic career. I am honored to be elected to the Chair position and I very much look forward to working with our many long standing partners, and quite a few new ones, to continue building our model of the future. The mission of the Center is not complete and deserves our continued efforts."
To view Dr. Greene's bio please visit Board of Directors.
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WALL STREET JOURNAL ARTICLE ON WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
Women business owners are a wonderfully diverse and varied group. We want it to stay that way, of course. But it does present challenges when trying to develop solutions to the problems they face in starting and growing a business.
The Center's founding executive director, Dr. Sharon Hadary, has written a thought-provoking article on the topic which appears in the May 17 issue of the Wall Street Journal online and at the newstands! We think you'll enjoy the article, editor's note as well as the comments being made!
Here's the link to the article and a podcast:
Why are Women-Owned Companies Smaller
Editor's Note
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Are you a woman entrepreneur with big plans, and the vision and passion for growing your company?
If so, we encourage you to apply for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneurial Winning Women program. Now in its third year, Entrepreneurial Winning Women is a competitive award designed to connect high-potential women entrepreneurs with the advisors, resources and insights they need to become market leaders.
Winners will:
. Join an elite network of the country's best high-growth companies and entrepreneurs
. Participate in a customized program designed to accelerate and sustain business growth
. On a complimentary basis, attend the Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum 2010, the country's most prestigious gathering of high-growth companies, November 10-14 in Palm Springs, CA.
Eligibility: Applicants are women who own or have founded their companies within the last ten years and have achieved at least $1M in revenue in the past two. The application period closes on June 30, 2010.
For more information visit Entrepreneurial Winning Women
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