Government Resources for Women Business Owners

Every business has its unique challenges. Women-owned businesses are no exception.

Women have come a long way since the days when people assumed a women-owned company was a small, home-based candle or macramé business bringing in under $10,000 a year. Today, women-owned businesses span industries and sizes, from the smallest home-based business to among the largest corporate giants.

Even with these strides, however, there are still gender-based barriers – particularly for women entrepreneurs.

SBA Resources

The Small Business Administration’s Business.gov provides a single go-to page that offers a list of resources specifically for women business-owners.

While there are many helpful links on this page, I want to point out one in particular: The Office of Women’s Business Ownership. This page, provided by the SBA, is chock-full of resources for women business owners, from success stories to grant information to a state-by-state listing of women’s business centers. This is a fantastic resource – spend some time taking advantage of all the information provided.

Making a Difference

Taking things even further, it behooves women business owners to get involved in helping all women business owners break down barriers and ensure the business playing field is fair and equal. If you want to make your voice heard, there’s the National Women’s Business Council.

The National Women’s Business Council is, according to the group, “a bi-partisan federal advisory council created to serve as an independent source of advice and policy recommendations to the President, Congress, and the U.S. Small Business Administration on economic issues of importance to women business owners.”

The group promotes women-owned business issues in both the public and private sectors.

If you want to get involved, now’s the time. The group is having a “Town Hall Meeting” in San Francisco on November 6. The goal of this meeting is for women business owners to speak directly to Council members about their priorities, challenges and concerns. During this particular meeting, women business owners are expected to discuss topics that include affordable healthcare, access to capital, procurement, taxes, education and workforce development, and micro enterprises.

For more information on this meeting, go to www.nwbc.gov.

For women specifically looking to bring their businesses into the federal contracting space – a good move in an uneasy economy – The National Women’s Business Council has an additional resource site called WomenBiz.gov. This site has a wealth of information from basic contracting first-steps to a page full of nearly 100 additional links connecting you to any kind of additional information you might need.

So, no matter what you’re looking for – to get assistance or to make more of a difference – the resources above should start you on your way.