Getting to Success: Helping Women Business Owners Gain Access to Capital
National Women’s Business Council
First published September 2002
A study released by the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) features successful programs from around the country which provide women business owners with the knowledge and assistance to secure capital.
Even though women-owned businesses represent 38% of all U.S. businesses and are growing at twice the rate as all other firms, women received only 5% of the almost $9 billion dollars in venture capital invested in 2000. Studies show that access to capital consistently ranks as one of the biggest challenges for women entrepreneurs seeking to start or expand their business.
The NWBC study, Getting to Success: Helping Women Business Owners Gain Access to Capital, identifies nine programs that successfully educate women business owners on methods for obtaining capital, documents the programs’ common traits, and identifies trends that may serve as guidelines for similar programs.
“This study provides guidance and direction to the nation’s 9.1 million women business owners and emerging entrepreneurs in need of information about gaining access to capital,” said Marilyn Carlson Nelson, Chairman and CEO of Carlson Companies and Chair of the National Women’s Business Council. “It provides sound models for service providers seeking best practice information in order to improve or establish their own programs. Equally important, the study’s findings will assist public policy makers in their efforts to broaden opportunities for women business owners.”