The Strategic Framework to Catalyze the Growth
of Women Owned Businesses in the United States

The United States has been in the vanguard of women's entrepreneurship for more than three decades, yet most American policy and program initiatives have been ad hoc, and more reactive than proactive. Further, efforts to facilitate women entrepreneurial growth along the business size continuum have been piecemeal rather than well-planned. For women's entrepreneurship in the US to reach its full potential, American women business leaders, advocates and policymakers need to become more comprehensive in their approach to facilitating the development of the women entrepreneurial sector. In addition, we must become more strategic in leveraging private sector, public sector, non-profit and academic resources to accelerate the growth and sustainability of this increasingly important sector of America's economy.

History
The last time that the United States addressed women's entrepreneurship in a strategic way was in the late 1980s, when the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) orchestrated "turnkey" congressional hearings by the House Small Business Committee, drafted HR 5050, and engineered its passage as the Women's Business Ownership Act of 1988. This landmark Act eased some problems with women's access to business credit, mandated a national business census of all women-owned businesses, created the pilot program that developed into the extremely successful Women's Business Centers, and created the National Women's Business Council (NWBC), a bipartisan body which provides policy recommendations to the U.S. President, Congress, and the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Overview
Eighteen years later, it is time to again to take a strategic look at gaps in the women's enterprise infrastructure, including challenges to growth. Quantum Leaps will work with key stakeholders to address these issues through a multi-phase process resulting in a Strategic Framework for Women's Entrepreneurship in the United States designed to bridge these gaps. When implemented, the Framework will catalyze growth of the women entrepreneurial sector from now to 2020, and help to spur the advancement of women-owned businesses at all stages along the business continuum.

Partners and Supporters
The Framework will provide a roadmap and blueprint for action, and will energize the women's business community and its supporters. NAWBO-whose Institute for Entrepreneurial Development has provided seed funding to jumpstart this initiative, and pledged considerable human resources-will play a major leadership role in helping to advance women's entrepreneurship in the US. The Direct Selling Education Foundation (DSEF) has also provided seed funding. This project has been endorsed by the NWBC and associations associated with the Council that will also assist with data gathering, providing recommendations, and widely promoting the findings and results with their membership base. Examples of contributing organizations include:

  • Association of Women's Business Centers (AWBC)
  • Center for Women's Business Research (CWBR)
  • Direct Selling Education Foundation (DSEF)
  • National Association of Women's Business Owners (NAWBO)
  • National Women's Business Council (NWBC)
  • Women Impacting Public Policy, Inc. (WIPP)
  • Women Presidents' Organization (WPO)
  • Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC)

Issues
The Strategic Framework process will be led by Quantum Leaps, Inc. (a global accelerator for women's entrepreneurship that is based in the U.S.), with major strategic input from the NWBC. It will engage many NAWBO thought leaders, as well as other leading women's business organizations, researchers and other stakeholders. The initiative will focus on 7 areas:

  1. Research, data and statistics, that can result in evidence-based policymaking, and include metrics to determine the social and economic ROI from investing in women's entrepreneurship
  2. Entrepreneurial education and training
  3. Access to debt and equity capital
  4. Access to networks (including mainstream business networks), and to corporate, government and international markets, including global supply chains
  5. Technology as an entrepreneurial enabler
  6. Advocacy and constituency building, including opportunities for stakeholders to work together
  7. And education of the media, policymakers, corporations-and ultimately the public-about women entrepreneurs and their economic and social impact, in a way that will facilitate ongoing support for the women entrepreneurial sector, and sustainability and growth for women-owned businesses

Development Process
Building on extensive knowledge gained through collaborations with the NWBC since 2004, Quantum Leaps will develop a draft model containing key concepts and recommendations, which will be tested with relevant stakeholders and experts using the following means:

  • Focus groups with thought leaders at key women's business conferences
  • Online forums and discussions
  • Online and email polling
  • Videoconferencing among key stakeholders and influencers in the seven areas outlined above

Deliverables
The development activities will culminate in a three-week-long Virtual Economic Summit on Women's Entrepreneurship in the US in early 2007. The Virtual Summit will build upon all of the activities leading up to it, and will culminate in the formal adoption of the Strategic Framework as a multi-year economic agenda for women's entrepreneurship in the United States from 2007-2020. The Strategic Framework will be released in early 2007 at an appropriate forum, and is expected to be formally presented to the President, the Congress and the SBA Administrator. It will be launched with an extensive media campaign, including briefings to editorial board members.

Sponsorship Opportunities
Key sponsors will gain forward-looking market intelligence, and will reap high visibility and good will from a public relations campaign that will be conducted with the launch and roll-out of the U.S. Strategic Framework. Select corporations are being invited to sponsor this initiative (with additional sponsorship expected from 501(c)(3) organizations and individual donors). For details regarding sponsorship benefit levels, please see the table on the next page.

Global Impact
The documented process, models, templates, and metrics used to create the Strategic Framework for Women's Entrepreneurship in the US, will be made available to other countries and regions of the world, so that they too can develop a process for adopting a Strategic Framework that is culturally appropriate.

Contact
For more information or to contribute to the development of the Strategic Framework, please contact:
Elizabeth A. Vazquez
Executive Director
Quantum Leaps, Inc.
3566 13th Street, NW, Suite 100
Washington, DC 20010, USA
Phone: 1-202-332-4411
Fax: 1-202-318-4510
Email: evazquez@attglobal.net