FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ATLANTA – March 5, 2003 - This new eReport issued today by Project Tsunami, Inc., a global accelerator for women’s entrepreneurship based in Atlanta, Georgia, highlights the results of a recently completed online forum with twenty leading researchers on women-owned enterprises from around the world. Forum participants included experts focused on women’s entrepreneurship in North America, Latin America, Eastern and Western Europe, the Newly Independent States, Africa, the Near and Middle East, and Asia.

Julie R. Weeks, Executive Director of the National Women’s Business Council and a member of the Project Tsunami Global BrainTrust, served as Lead Discussant. The Council, based in Washington, DC, makes policy recommendations to the President and to Congress.

Participants found that although women-owned enterprises constitute the fastest growing area of businesses in many countries, including the United States, they are almost invisible in terms of government and private sector attention and awareness. The story was virtually the same in every country.

• Women-owned companies have a growth rate twice that of all U.S. companies and employ one in four American employees and contribute $3.6 trillion in annual revenues–yet very little is known about these companies and little attention is paid to them by most financial institutions, government agencies and venture capitalists.
• Stimulating the growth of women-owned businesses is a key component of healthy economic development. In many countries, the forum established, women-owned businesses have limited access to the funding needed to start and grow their businesses.
• Very little is also known about the role of women-owned businesses in terms of their impact on international commerce, although anecdotal information suggests that women often excel in international trade.

“The world economy is slowing and anything that can reverse that trend is critically important. This first report from Project Tsunami clearly indicates that the success of women entrepreneurs is pivotal to a recovery worldwide,” said Virginia Littlejohn, Co-Chair of Project Tsunami and facilitator of the forum.

The online forum took place over a three-week period in November/December and is the first of many such forums to be conducted by Project Tsunami, using the latest, most user-friendly, online conferencing techniques.

Project Tsunami is committed to encouraging policymakers around the world to be more proactive in facilitating the growth of women’s entrepreneurship. It has also been developed to provide the hub where policymakers, women entrepreneurial leaders, and corporate managers and foundation officials interested in the women entrepreneurial sector can find examples of best practices, learn about financial and program resources, access government support, and partner with other organizations interested in advancing women-owned businesses.

“If economies are to grow and thrive, then encouraging the success of women-owned businesses is one key to that growth. If we are to have a secure world, then we have to pay attention to the needs of more than half of the world’s population–women. In those countries where women are not allowed to thrive and open businesses, the economies are often in trouble. Where women are encouraged to open businesses and governments support their efforts, economies are generally much stronger,” said Linda Tarr-Whelan, Co-Chair of Project Tsunami and a women business owner in Washington DC.

The full text of the eReport is available at www.projecttsunami.org.

Project Tsunami is supported by a major grant from the Kansas City-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which is a leader in the study and support of entrepreneurship.

Press Contacts:
Virginia Littlejohn, Tel: (1) 301-951-9411
Linda Tarr-Whelan, Tel: (1) 703-527-7988