Resource Guide
What Is A “Women’s Business Enterprise”?
About the Report
The statistics used throughout this handbook are drawn from research conducted by the Center for Women’s Business Research in 2002, and published in a report entitled Access to Markets: Perspectives from Large Corporations and Women’s Business Enterprises. The study surveyed women’s business enterprises and corporate purchasing executives.
A women’s business enterprise is a company that has been certified as being woman-owned and operated. Certification as a women’s business enterprise requires at least 51% ownership by a woman or women and demonstrated management and control of business operations by a woman.
THE NEWS IS GOOD
There’s good news for women entrepreneurs who want to do business with corporate clients. According to a new study, Access to Markets: Perspectives from Large Corporations and Women’s Business Enterprises, published by the Center for Women’s Business Research, nearly half of the revenues of the women surveyed – who are all certified as women’s business enterprises – are earned from doing business with large corporations. And, corporations are actively looking for women vendors. With the track record of women’s success and an increasing commitment to diversity, the message is clear: women-owned firms are in a better position than ever to access the billions of dollars available in the corporate market.
HOW THIS GUIDE CAN HELP
This guide can help women business owners who are ready to approach this market, but may have some questions about marketing, trends, or where to most effectively focus their energies. It is also designed to help those who are already marketing to corporations to do so more effectively, and to encourage those who are not pursuing this market to consider how they might begin. It spells out the strategies used by women’s business enterprises to get themselves in the door – and their company’s name on the contract. These are strategies you can believe in, as they come from women who have done what it takes to enter the corporate market and build a strong revenue base. If they have done it, you can, too.
The guide combines their experiences with the perspective of corporate purchasing executives. It is packed with research-based facts, and includes individual stories of success, all aimed to provide a broad picture of what has worked for those who a re already creating revenues from corporate clients. With a multibillion-dollar market waiting, who has time to reinvent the wheel?
It is not enough, however, to simply follow the path of those who have gone before. You must also present a high-quality,
Citation
Center for Women’s Business Research. “What Is A “Women’s Business Enterprise”?.” Washington, DC.