(Music)
If you have ever owned a business or ever dreamed of
becoming your own boss, and who hasn't, you're really going to
love this segment. Women owned business are growing and with
that growth comes opportunity for women like we've never seen
before. So this morning we are going to roar and joining me are
Pamela Prince-Eason and Pat Birmingham from the Women's
Business Enterprise National Council or WBENC. Good morning.
Good morning Olga. Good morning.
Thanks for being here. I love hearing things like this. Women
growing, taking the reigns, owning their businesses and
making a difference. This is wonderful so I'm going to start
with you Pam. Tell me about WBEBC. I'm excited.
Well, WBEC is the organization that helps those women roar as
you said. We're really excited about being here with you so
that all of your viewers can understand what it is that WBEC
does. WBEC exists simply to make sure that those women that
you're talking about have the opportunity to compete and be in
corporate supply chains. There's great solutions that they have
and it really is just a matter of getting that small business a
little bit closer to those larger businesses so the
corporations involved in our organization, they're looking
for those women. Wow, and how many women do you
have right now? Currently, 13,000.
13,000 really making a difference here Pat, right. Yes
we are and these women are not only entrepreneurs but they're
small, innovative, they're nimble and they're so eager to
be connected to our corporate members.
And let me take it one step further. When it comes to our
economy and job creation obviously all this really just
helps this country move forward. Yep.
Olga it helps this country I think more then the average
person would even realize. There are over 9 million woman owned
businesses in this country. 9 million?
9 million. Wow.
And they employ 8 million people. I would've thought it
was less. And their revenues are 1.4
trillion annually. So Pam, let me ask you this.
What are some of the misconceptions regarding women
owning businesses. I can think of one right now. Can you run it
like a man? (Laughter)
Right? That might be one of the
misconceptions. Um I think that they're concerned about any
business that's not of huge scale being able to do business
with other businesses. And so we have the great fortune to help
women businesses do business with corporation large or small
as well as with other woman owned businesses. Women are
great at assisting other women. Pat?
I think one of the other points that really resonates when we do
start introducing the women to our corporate members, is that
they're nimble, they're innovative, they can move faster
sometimes then a larger company that's in there supply chain so
that all tends to offset those hesitations that they have.
And I can only imagine the network in itself just continues
to grow. You learn more, you grown together and bam, more
impact. Yes and we're now actually
certifying not only for corporate America, but also for
the government and so we've got even more opportunities to open
up now. Alright, speaking of
opportunities I want to hear more about this so ladies stay
right there because when we come back we're going to hear more
about the benefits of becoming part of WBENC right after the
break because we're going to roar this morning. We'll be
right back. (Music)
This morning we're talking about woman owned business and some of
the resources that are helping them succeed with the Women's
Business Enterprise National Council or WBENC. My guests once
again are Pamela Prince-Eason and Patricia Birmingham both
from WBENC. By the way, Pamela also sits on the National
Women's Business Council which advises the President and
Congress on matters of interest to women owned businesses. I had
to get that in there because I thought that was pretty
important. Well thank you.
Alot of testosterone when you walk in there, huh?
(Laughter) Yes, but we're getting more
women in Congress so that's very good.
That's good. And what kind of impact are you having there?
I think a great impact. So Carla Harris is the appointee by the
President, uh Amanda Brown is the Executive Director. She
pulls all of us together to have discussions about things that
Congress needs to better understand about women competing
for business. Excellent.
Wether that be with corporations out in the private sector or
wether it be in the public sector with the government
business. Alright so congratulations to
that. I had to taught you there. Thank you.
Let's go back to WBENC and talk about the certification and what
you have to go thru. So the certification is we're
the largest third party certifier of women who own,
operate and control their business, ok? And that's what
people are looking for. They're not looking for a shell
corporation, they're looking to say that I in fact want to do
business with someone who owns their business, who makes the
decisions in that business and who is growing the economy. And
so that's what we do. We go in, we have 14 regional partners
located all around the United States and those partners
actually execute the process so there's an application process,
those partners take those applications, they review those,
we do site visits and we validate those are truly 51% are
more owned, operated and controlled by women.
Sounds like great checks and balance there if you will.
Great checks and balances. Pat, are there benefits?
There's alot of other benefits. WBENC exists on a core platform.
The C is certification which Pam just explained very well and the
O is opportunities and we try to provide numerous opportunities
for all of our constituents throughout the year. We have two
very large national events. One is actually happening this
month, our Summit and Salute in Baltimore, MD. We'll have about
2,000 people there. Wow.
Both women owned businesses and corporate members and we have
educational sessions, key note speakers, networking events,
targeted one on one match making where the corporations actually
choose the women that they want to sit and meet one on one with
based on the needs in their supply chain. So it's not just a
high, it's nice to meet you, what do you do. It's I have a
need you have a commodity that will fill my need, let's get
together. Our other event is our National Conference which this
year will be in June in Austin, Texas and we'll have 4,000
people there. Wow.
It is the largest conference of its' kind for woman owned
businesses in this country and the middle day of that
conference we have a huge expo with over 350 exhibiters so it's
a trade fair where women can showcase their products and
services and alot of our corporate members showcase their
companies and it's a natural fit for networking.
And also another benefit is awards that woman they're
recognized. Yes, we recognize our women and
our corporate members at our upcoming Summit and Salute we
recognize 14 women business enterprise stars. Pam mentioned
our 14 regional partners, they each put forth and exemplary
woman who leads no only in business, but in her community
and among her peers. And they each get recognized. We also
recognize are top corporations for doing business with women
business enterprises. Great mentors.
This year 51 are being recognized out of the Fortune
500. 51, oh that's excellent. Now
Pam, um I was reading here, women owned logo campaign.
Yes. What's that?
Glad to tell you about that. Oh my goodness. More excitement.
More excitement. Absolutely. The women owned logo actually you
see it here on Pat is something that our women are putting on
their products and so when you go to a store and you're looking
at products in the store you'll start to see our Women Owned
logo appear more often for those businesses that are part of the
WBENC network. And the whole purpose of that is that women
make alot of great buying decisions, they like to buy from
other women so part of it is about helping you see those
women owned products, but another one is the quality. You
know, sometimes we're all mothers, right? You go to the
area to buy something for your children and you see that
another women has created the product, you're probably going
to look at it because you can guess she's probably had the
same issue you're having. Because you can relate and they
can understand a man will not understand certain things and
I'm like, listen honey, you're not going to understand. You're
a man, I'm a woman. So it makes a difference.
It does make a difference. Alright, give me the website Pat
for information on WBENC. Our website is WBENC.org which
is W B E N C .org. Ladies, thank you so much for
joining me. I had a great time. Come back again?
We will. Absolutely.
Alright and maybe I'll join you in Austin, Texas.
We'd love that. That sounds like alot of fun.
And if you'd like additional information about WBENC. Again
that's W B E N C. You can log onto our website
TheBalancingAct.com TheBalancingAct.com. All the
information is there as well. Check it out.