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The European Union’s handbook, Good Practices in
the Promotion of Female Entrepreneurship, 2003,
described the US as being “the country that has it
all!” Thus, this is an expanded issue of The Wave,
devoted to US best practices presented in plenary
sessions at the OECD Accelerating Women’s
Entrepreneurship Forum held in Istanbul from June
5-7, 2004.
Melanie Sabelhaus,
Deputy Administrator
of the US Small
Business Administration
(SBA), presented
a comprehensive
overview of US
government programs
that support entrepreneurship
and small
and medium enterprises
(SMEs), and
highlighted the growing interest in women’s
entrepreneurship by US policymakers (see
www.sba.gov). She was a successful entrepreneur
before becoming a policymaker.
Horizon Speaker Sets Vision
for Women Entrepreneurial Forum
Marilyn Carlson
Nelson, the horizon
speaker, provided the
big-picture vision for
the Forum. She is
Chairman of Carlson
Companies Inc.
(including Carlson
Wagonlit Travel,
Radisson Hotels and
TGIF restaurants), and
Chair of the National
Women’s Business
Council in the US. She also co-chaired the World
Economic Forum in Davos in 2004.
Ms. Carlson said that a sequence of events was
critical to the accelerated development of
women’s enterprise in the US. Her comments
below are condensed and slightly reordered from
her galvanizing call for global action on behalf of
women’s entrepreneurship.
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In the late 80s, a handful of women business
owners (including Tsunami’s CEO) realized that
they were essentially “invisible” to the Federal
government. They got together to strategize and
lobby the US Congress to recognize the potential
economic impact of women business owners.
They essentially wrote the legislation that created
the Women’s Business Ownership Act of 1988.
This legislation:
Required the US Census Bureau to count all
women-owned businesses for the first time,
Established what has now become the $12
million Women’s Business Center program,
which serves 90,000 women a year in more
than 80 centers, and
Established the National Women’s Business
Council, which is a government-funded,
bipartisan group of women business owners
and leaders of women’s organizations which
recommends to Congress specific policies and
programs to support women business owners.
In the ensuing years, this landmark legislation has
resulted in many more important policy and
program initiatives supportive of women’s
entrepreneurship.
What did we learn from this success?
Don’t wait for permission. In the beginning,
there was no official policy framework from
which these pioneering women could gain
support and leverage. Early advocates of public
policy must find each other, set goals and
strategize.
Organize formally. This has a coalescing effect.
It builds a membership of like-minded people
and provides the ability to mobilize around
issues.
As movements mature, the more collaboration
that can be sustained between organizations,
the greater the chances of success. The goal is
to reach a critical mass which policymakers
cannot ignore. Now, many US organizations
support women’s entrepreneurship through
education, networking and political lobbying.
Many organizations have mentoring programs for
women business owners. Mentoring has been
one of the best predictors of success for WEs.
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