Certification Helps Women-Owned Businesses Land Big Contracts
Written by Heather MacLeod Wednesday, October 07 2009
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California business owner nabs Office Depot.
The way Roz Lewis sees it, major corporations that contract with women-owned businesses aren't busy patting themselves on their backs for their altruism – they're too busy making money.
"It's good business," says Lewis, who is executive director of the Greater Women's Business Council. "Women are loyal to those who invest in them.”
Lewis's group represents women-owned businesses in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and is part of the National Women's Business Enterprise. In addition to providing networking events and classes, this organization provides a standardized certification process that large corporations covet, so they can be ensured that the women-owned businesses their supplier diversity teams hire are qualified.
Obtaining certification is neither easy nor cheap, and neither is it right for every business. For example, a business owner needs to make sure she provides a product or service that is targeted to corporations or government agencies and that her business has the capacity to provide the product or service in the larger quantities most corporations and government agencies required.
But it's a process designed to ensure that a business claiming the WBE seal is really that – one that is owned and operated by a woman, at least 51percent of the time.
