Cash for Impact

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Businesswoman Assisting Customers

There are a number of resources out there for entrepreneurs that provide a means of accessing advice, services, etc. at low or no cost. I always tell business owners to ask why do they need the money? What is the purpose? If it’s to pay for a business consultant, try SCORE, an SBDC or an MBDC. Or, if you are a woman entrepreneur, try an AWBC. Below are three resources that specifically cater to women business owners (or to others that support their respective missions).

Association of Women’s Business Centers

According to the website, “The Association of Women’s Business Centers (AWBC) “supports entrepreneurial development among women as a way to achieve economic self-sufficiency, create wealth and participate in economic development through education, training, mentoring, business development and financing opportunities.”

Furthermore, the “AWBC and its network provide support and services to a range of women business owners including underserved women entrepreneurs to women securing rounds of venture capital in their businesses.”

National Association of Women Business Owners

According to their website, “The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) propels women entrepreneurs into economic, social and political spheres of power worldwide by:

• Strengthening the wealth creating capacity of our members and promoting economic development within the entrepreneurial community

• Creating innovative and effective change in the business culture

• Building strategic alliances, coalitions and affiliations.”

NAWBO also certifies women owned businesses as “women business owned”  to access contracts targeted by corporations.

National Association for Female Executives

According to the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE)’s website, “The National Association for Female Executives, one of the country’s largest associations for women professionals and business owners, provides resources – through education, networking, and public advocacy- to empower its members to achieve both career and personal success.”

Technorati Tags: women business owner, women entrepreneur, women entrepreneurs, women-owned business

Minority and Women Angel Investments

This information is compiled from surveys on angel investment activity conducted by the Center for Venture Research.

2004:
Women angel investors comprised ~5% of total angels. Women-owned businesses represented 4.7% of companies seeking angel funds and 12.5% of the companies that successfully obtained angel investment.

Minority angels comprised 3.6% of the market. Minority-owned companies, 5.4% of those seeking angel investments yet  20% of minority-owned ventures garnered angel investment.

2005:
Women angels represented 8.7% of the market. Women-owned companies seeking investment also represented 8.7% of the market.  A whopping 33% of the women-owned ventures seeking angel investment received it!! Minority angels represented 3.7% of angel investors who invested.  14.2% of firms seeking investment were minority-owned. Only 7.6% of these received angel investments, a significant drop from 2004.

2006:
Women angel investors represented 13.8% of the total angel investors. Women-owned businesses only accounted for 12.9% of companies seeking angel investment, yet 21.5% of those women-owned ventures seeking received investment received it.

Minority angels represented 3.4% of total angel investors. Minority-owned businesses accounted for 6.9% of the companies seeking angel investment. Only 7.1% of minority entrepreneurs received angel funds.

2007:
Women angels comprised 12% of active angel investors. Women-owned ventures were 12.7% of those seeking capital. 16% of these companies received angel investments.

Minority angels made up 3.0% of active angels. Minority-owned firms represented 4.7% of those pursuing angel investment with 21.2% of those receiving angel investment, a return to 2004 levels.

2008:
Women angels made up 16.5% of active angel investors. Women-owned firms represented 15.7% of the total pursuing angel investment. Only 9.5% of those received angel capital.

Meanwhile, minority angels represented 3.6% of all active angels. Minority-owned companies pursuing angel investment made up 3.7% of the total. 11.3% of those minority entrepreneurs received angel investment.

2009:
Women angels comprised 11.3% of angel investors this year. Women-owned ventures made up 21% of those pursuing angel capital and 9.4% of hose receiving.

Minority angels represented 3.5% of the total active angels. Minority-owned ventures seeking angel investment comprised 6.2% of the total. 14.2% of those receiving were minority entrepreneurs.

2010:

Women angels made up 13% of the angels. Women-owned ventures seeking angel investment again made up 21% of the total number of entrepreneurial ventures pursuing angel investment. Women-owned ventures receiving investment comprised 13% of that total.

That same year, minority angels made up only 2% of the angel investors. Minority-owned companies seeking angel investment made up 6% of the total. Those receiving, 19% of the total.

The Center for Venture Research recommends that, given the data, more minority-owned and women owned companies need to attract angel investor attention. In addition, both groups “need to increase their ‘investor readiness’ through education and networking”.

Technorati Tags: minority angels, minority entrepreneur, minority owned business, minority owned businesses, women angel investors, women angels, women-owned business

I recently read an article in the Akron Beacon Journal about Golden Seeds, a group primarily comprised of female women investors with a few offices on the East Coast in New York city (i.e., in Silicon Alley), Philadelphia, and Boston, and one office on the west coast, in San Francisco (i.e., in Silicon Valley).  From their website, “Golden Seeds is dedicated to empowering women financially, based on a commitment that diversity in business ownership and management improves corporate performance and creates a stronger economy.”

Golden Seeds mainly invests in women-owned businesses, or rather, women-owned and women-controlled businesses. The companies they invest in have a woman at the helm as either the CEO or as a founder and CXO (COO, CFO, CTO, or CMO).  In other words, Golden Seeds invests in companies where a woman is the primary decision maker or plays a significant role in the decision-making process. This angel investor group has over 150 investors.

For more information, visit their website at http://www.goldenseeds.com/home/ . You can also check out the Sunday, April 24, 2011 “Business” section of the Akron Beacon Journal for a great article on some of the investments the group has made.

Technorati Tags: Golden Seeds, women-controlled businesses, women-owned business

Release Date: February 1, 2011
Contact: Tiffani Clements (202) 401-0035
Release Number: 11-09
Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/news
****************

WASHINGTON – Women-owned small businesses can begin taking steps to participate in a new federal contracting program on Friday, Feb. 4, the U.S. Small Business Administration announced today. The new Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contract Program will be fully implemented over the next several months, with the first contracts expected to be awarded by the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011.

“Implementing the Women-Owned Small Business contracting rule has been a top priority for the Obama Administration and SBA,” said Administrator Karen Mills. “Women-owned businesses are one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy. As we continue to look to small businesses to grow, create jobs and lead America into the future, women-owned businesses will play a key role. That’s why providing them with all the tools necessary to compete for and win federal contracts is so important. Federal contracts can provide women-owned small businesses with the oxygen they need to take their business to the next level.”

The WOSB Federal Contract Program will provide greater access to federal contracting opportunities for WOSBs and economically-disadvantaged women-owned small businesses (EDWOSBs). The Program allows contracting officers, for the first time, to set aside specific contracts for certified WOSBs and EDWOSBs and will help federal agencies achieve the existing statutory goal of five percent of federal contracting dollars being awarded to WOSBs.

On Feb. 4, SBA will release instructions on how to participate in the program, as well as launch the secure, online data repository for WOSBs to upload required documents, on its website: www.sba.gov/wosb. SBA will also release an application to become an SBA-approved third party certifier for this program on that date. This will be the first version of the application. SBA welcomes comments and suggestions on this first version of the application.

During the ramp up period over the next several months, SBA is encouraging small business owners to review program requirements and ensure their required documents are uploaded to the repository. WOSBs also will need to update their status in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) and the Online Representation and Certification Application (ORCA) to indicate to contracting officers that they are eligible to participate. The General Services Administration is currently updating these systems and they are expected to be completed in April, 2011.

Similarly, the WOSB rule in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), which is the companion to the SBA rule, is now going through final review, and is also expected to be issued by April. With these pieces in place, SBA expects to see the first contracts awarded through the program by the all-important fourth quarter, when the largest percent of federal contracts are awarded.

Every firm that wishes to participate in the WOSB program must meet the eligibility requirements and either self-certify or obtain third party certification. At this time, SBA has not approved any third party certifiers. Regardless of their certification method, WOSBs must also upload required documents proving their eligibility to a secure online data repository developed and maintained by SBA.

To qualify as a WOSB, a firm must be at least fifty-one percent owned and controlled by one or more women, and primarily managed by one or more women. The women must be U.S. citizens and the firm must be considered small according to SBA size standards. To be deemed “economically disadvantaged”, a firm’s owners must meet specific financial requirements set forth in the program regulations.

The WOSB Program identifies eighty-three four-digit North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) codes where WOSBs are underrepresented or substantially underrepresented. Contracting officers may set aside contracts in these industries if the contract can be awarded at a fair and reasonable price, the contracting officer has a reasonable expectation that two or more WOSBs or EDWOSBs will submit offers for the contract and the anticipated contract price is not greater than $5 million for manufacturing contracts and $3 million for other contracts.

Each stage of implementation is part of SBA’s mission to make the Program efficient and user-friendly, and to ensure its benefits go only to qualifying WOSBs. SBA is excited to launch this new program to provide WOSBs with increased opportunities to compete for and win federal contracts, ultimately helping WOSBs create and retain more jobs.
For more information on the Women-Owned Small Business Program or to access the instructions, applications or database, please visit www.sba.gov/wosb.

Technorati Tags: SBA program, Woman-owned small business, women-owned business, wosb

Today is Monday, Jan. 3. I am an Ohio State alum (BS in Industrial & Systems Engineering) and a HUGE Ohio State Buckeyes football fan. So this year I finally bought tickets to a BCS bowl game. I’ll be at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans watching Ohio State play Arkansas, tomorrow, January 4. For all the SEC followers (I live in Atlanta so I’m surrounded by hordes of them!), enjoy your bowl game but don’t forget to tune in to see us!

On a related note, for future reference, bowl games are a SUPERB way to reward client loyalty, especially if you have a strong locally-focused or regionally-focused business. It can be expensive to purchase all the tickets but, believe me, it can and is well worth it. (Those tickets can also be very hard to come by.) It’s a great way to interact with your customers in a fun environment…and it’s something that others would rarely, if ever, offer them. Therefore, BCS bowl game tickets are the perfect gift for those who are football fans.

It doesn’t even have to be their favorite team. However,I stress local and regional because it definitely helps if the client has a strong affinity for the team you get them tickets to see. (Duh, right?!)

Okay, back to my Sugar Bowl game. You may not see a post from me until Thursday. I need time to digest (hopefully) our win and make it back to home base from New Orleans!