Press Release

Wells Fargo & Company Begins 10th Year As Center for Women’s Business Research Corporate Partner

Center for Women’s Business Research  ·  January 25, 2005

As a corporate partner, Wells Fargo supports the work of the Center in continuing to create entrepreneurial opportunities for women through conducting research and sharing knowledge about women business owners and their enterprises worldwide. The Center’s research informs private- and public-sector decision makers and policy makers, as well as women entrepreneurs.

“Wells Fargo transformed the world of finance for women business owners when it launched the first-ever business services program for women-owned businesses in 1995,” said Marjorie Alfus, Chair, Center for Women’s Business Research. “Thanks to Wells Fargo’s partnership, the Center has been able to conduct and communicate research which has given women business owners and their enterprises credibility as an economic force.”

“Wells Fargo was the first financial institution to establish a program reaching out to women business owners, and we are excited to continue this support and our relationship with the Center to help women entrepreneurs succeed financially,“ said Joy Ott, Regional President for Wells Fargo Bank in Montana, and National Spokesperson for Wells Fargo’s Women’s Business Services program. ”We are also tremendously honored to receive this recognition from the Center – one of the foremost advocates in promoting the success of women business owners across the country."

Wells Fargo has reaffirmed their commitment to women entrepreneurs with its Women Business Services program, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. A lending goal was established in 1995 with a goal of lending $1 billion to women-owned businesses, and in 2003 the goal was updated to $20 billion over a 10-year period. To date, Wells Fargo has loaned more than $19 billion to women business owners nationwide through this program.

In 2005, Wells Fargo & Company will be receiving the Center’s Corporate Leading by Example Award, which is presented annually to a corporation that has enlarged the possibilities for women business owners and set the standard for others by demonstrating the courage and leadership to initiate programs that unleash the full economic potential and power of women entrepreneurs. The award will be presented on April 27 at the 11th Annual Executive Roundtable in New York City.

The partnering of these two institutions means more opportunities, greater knowledge, and better information for women business owners nationwide. Through research, public speaking forums, and continued initiatives for women business owners, the Center for Women’s Business Research and Wells Fargo are opening new doors for women entrepreneurs and those who do business with them.

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Center for Women’s Business Research Center for Women’s Business Research is the premier source of knowledge about women business owners and their enterprises worldwide. The Center’s mission is to unleash the economic potential of women entrepreneurs by conducting research, sharing information and increasing knowledge about this fast-growing sector of the economy.

Since 1989, the Center has generated research-based intelligence that has helped public- and private sector leaders, advocates, and individual women business owners make informed strategic decisions for generating greater business opportunities.

About Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company with $422 billion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance to more than 23 million customers from more than 6,000 stores and the internet (www.wellsfargo.com) across North America and elsewhere internationally. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. is the only “Aaa”- rated bank in the United States.

Providing financial products and services to more than one million businesses with annual sales up to $20 million in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Canada, Wells Fargo is the #1 lender to small businesses in the United States in total dollar volume according to 2003 CRA data, the number one SBA 504 lender nationally for the last two years. Its targeted business services programs provide outreach and education to women, African American, Latino, and Asian business owners about financial services. Since 1995, Wells Fargo has loaned more than $23 billion to women and minority business owners.

Note: Wells Fargo has been the exclusive sponsor of many research reports in recent years, including: “Online and In-Focus” (October 2001); “Seizing the Opportunities” (June 2003); “Location, Location, Location” (September 2003); and the Center’s biennial update on the key facts about women-owned businesses – most recently released in April 2004. In addition, they have sponsored a wide range of research, including the first-ever study on access to capital, “Capital, Credit, and Financing,” in 1996; “The Spirit of Enterprise: Latina Entrepreneurs in the United States” (September 2000, published in both English and Spanish); and “Women Business Owners of Color: New Accomplishments, Continuing Challenges” (October 2002). They are the exclusive sponsor of the upcoming “Women’s Access to Capital” report, to be released in March 2005.

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