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WOMEN BUSINESS OWNERS


How Women’s Businesses Will Drive Economic Growth and Create Jobs in Next Decade


T


he Roadmap to 2020, an unprecedent- ed collaboration of the nation’s major


women’s business organizations and en- trepreneurial thought leaders, recently re- leased, launching a comprehensive action plan to achieve exponential revenue growth and job creation among women’s businesses over the next decade. “Roadmap 2020” recommends nothing


less than a paradigm shift in women’s business development—from early entre- preneurial education to policy support to capital availability—designed to enable the creation of at least 6 million new jobs over the next ten years. Quantum Leaps, the Women’s Busi-


ness Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) jointly released the Roadmap 2020 report at WBENC’s 11th


Annual Women in Busi-


ness National Conference and Business Fair before some 2,500 corporations and women business owners in attendance. It was presented on behalf of the 10 wom- en’s business organizations and 20 com- panies that were supporters and collabora- tors in Roadmap 2020. “Roadmap 2020 not only tells us how


to create more jobs—but also how to im- prove the quality of those jobs, with high- er salaries and better benefits, in growing, innovative companies,” said Virginia Lit- tlejohn, CEO and co-founder of Quantum Leaps, the nonprofit that mobilized Road- map 2020 participants. By galvanizing the leadership of the women’s business com- munity, Roadmap 2020 will drive change on the national and grassroots level, and dramatically sharpen the nation’s com- petitiveness. Roadmap 2020 prescribes agents of growth all along the business continuum: n Start-up companies should focus on


WWW.PROFESSIONALWOMANMAG.COM


goal-setting for growth, and training to enable that growth, instead of income substitution, n “The Missing Middle” – those com-


panies past the start up stage, but with some potential for growth – need vision, strategy, benchmarking, coaching and mentoring n Multi-million dollar businesses can


expand through peer mentoring, globaliz- ing, and increased access to corporate and government markets n Businesses of all sizes need access


to capital Quantum Leaps will organize a strate-


gic think tank in the fall to specify the next steps in implementing Roadmap 2020 recommendations. “The Roadmap to 2020 is leading a transformation and connecting women in business around the world,” said Marilyn Johnson, vice president of Market Devel- opment for IBM. “IBM is proud to be the lead corporate sponsor of such a high-im- pact global initiative.” Roadmap 2020 recommendations fo-


cus on six key areas: Measuring Economic Impact and Job Creation; Entrepreneurial Training; Innovation, Technology and Sustainability; Accessing Capital; Access- ing Markets; and Building the Movement. Through 32 core recommendations,


Roadmap 2020 challenges policymakers, corporations, financial institutions, educa- tors and the women’s business community itself to enable women’s business to ac- cess more capital, more corporate and government contracts, more expansion and responsible risk. Among the boldest recommendations are: n Expand the role of the Small Busi-


ness Administration’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership (OWBO) beyond


CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF DIVERSITY


oversight of the Women’s Business Cen- ter (WBC) program to other growth-fo- cused initiatives, including access to capi- tal and access to markets n Increase communication and col- laboration among women’s business groups n Encourage federal, state and local governments to accept third party certifi- cations for women’s business enterprises (WBEs) n Expand entrepreneurship education into ever younger populations


Supporters include the Association of


Women’s Business Centers, Center for Women’s Business Research, Count Me In, Direct Selling Education Foundation, Enterprising Women, WEConnect Interna- tional, Women Presidents’ Organization, and Women Impacting Public Policy.


Source: NAWBO PROFESSIONAL WOMAN’S MULTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 65


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