This year is the 25th anniversary of the enactment of the Women’s Business Ownership Act of 1988, a landmark piece of legislation that has laid the foundation for increased federal support of one of the largest and most important segments of the nation’s economy: women-owned businesses.
According to a recent report by American Express OPEN, as of 2011, there are over 8.1 million women-owned businesses in the United States, generating nearly $1 .3 trillion in revenues and employing nearly 7.7 million people. The report also estimates that, between 1997 and 2011, women-owned firms increased by 50 percent – a rate of 1.5 times the national average.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) offers a wide range of programs and services to help women establish and grow their small businesses.
According to the Urban Institute, SBA guaranteed loans are three to five times more likely to go to women than non-SBA loans. While there aren’t any SBA loan programs specifically for women business owners, the SBA is one of the largest loan guarantors in the country. Rather than direct lending, the SBA provides a guarantee to banks and other participating lenders for the funds they lend to small businesses owners.
SBA offers a variety of loan programs through our participating lenders that can be used for most business purposes: to purchase or improve real estate, to purchase machinery and equipment and inventory or to assist in the acquisition, operation or expansion of an existing business. SBA also backs working capital loans and revolving lines of credit as well as loans to refinance existing debt under certain conditions.
SBA offers a Loans and Grants Search Tool at SBA.gov, or visit SBA’s Small Business Loans and Grants home page. Alternatively, you can take Online Courses for Financing Your Business which explains SBA’s loan programs.
SBA’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership oversees more than 100 Women’s Business Centers (WBC) throughout the United States and its territories designed to assist women to start and grow small businesses. Through the management and technical assistance provided by the centers, entrepreneurs are offered comprehensive training and counseling on many topics in many languages. In FY 2012 the WBC network served 137,942 clients throughout the country and supported $40.5 million in capital infusion (loans and equity investment).
SBA also delivers counseling and training through our network of Small Business Development Centers, SCORE and Veterans’ Business Resource organizations at little or no cost. SBA data show that businesses that receive counseling assistance have significantly better survival rates than those that don’t receive similar support.
At the SBA, one of our priorities is making sure that more qualified women-owned small businesses have access to government and commercial supply chain opportunities. That’s the purpose of the Women’s Contracting Rule. For the first time, federal agencies have been able to set aside contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses in over 300 industries where women are underrepresented.
SBA is committed to helping women entrepreneurs because we know how much potential they have to contribute to America’s economic growth.
To learn more about how SBA can help your business, visit http://www.sba.gov/about-offices-content/1/2895 or www.sba.gov/mo.
Patricia Brown-Dixon is Region 7 Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
