Leading the Charge for Women in Business

Written by Shala Hainer Thursday, August 25 2011

Snapshot: Margot Dorfman, CEO, U. S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce
Margot Dorfman has worn many hats during her career, and this led her to cofound the U. S. Women's Chamber of Commerce 10 years ago with business partner Terry Williams. Dorfman has started on the bottom rung of corporations and worked her way up to the top. She has successfully opened and run her own small businesses. She has shared her talents in the nonprofit world as well as Fortune 500 companies. Dorfman has a true commitment to forwarding the economic future of American women, and she renews that commitment daily from our nation's capital.

Dorfman now leverages her talents to influence a new way of thinking in the United States, one that empowers women to take charge of their financial futures through education and leadership development. She testifies regularly before Congress, weighing in on the economic challenges women face, particularly as business owners. These topics include health care, securing capital, government contracts, and retirement planning.

The U. S. Women's Chamber of Commerce, where Dorfman serves as CEO, presents a unified front to the country's leadership to ensure that women's voices are heard. Among its many initiatives, the group is working toward increasing the number of government contracts that are awarded to women-owned businesses and creating a marketplace for women-owned businesses.

Womenetics: What was your inspiration to found the U. S. Women's Chamber of Commerce?
Margot Dorfman: The U. S. Women's Chamber of Commerce was an outgrowth of The Arizona Women’s News which took action to level the playing field for women to access economic growth in Arizona. Taking our newspaper interviews live, we developed a following of those who wanted to join and key influencers within Phoenix and Arizona who wanted to serve on our board. We identified a mission to develop leaders to accelerate economic growth and provide a community voice for women – and we established the Arizona Women’s Chamber.

At our launch in Arizona, we had more than 400 women and men, all ages, all ethnicities, key influencers, from all over the state, and the very next day we heard from hundreds of women and men from across the United States asking, “What about us?” We found there was no U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce, so we picked up and moved to Washington, D.C., and founded the U. S. Women's Chamber of Commerce in October 2001. We will be celebrating our 10th anniversary this year.

Womenetics: The U. S. Women's Chamber of Commerce has grown exponentially to more than 500,000 members. To what do you attribute the rapid growth?
Dorfman: The U. S. Women's Chamber of Commerce filled a void – there were many women's “groups," but there was a lack of real solutions to the economic challenges facing women. The U. S. Women's Chamber of Commerce has worked strategically to bring about real change. This new, strategic focus is what has energized women to join the chamber.

Womenetics: How do you encourage women leaders and business owners to get involved locally in promoting women's economic issues?
Dorfman: We encourage women as leaders and business owners by providing key education on the tenants of The Women-Led Economy -- how to focus our energies and leverage our combined strength to achieve breakthrough growth for women. We provide education about how the true influencers of economic development work within communities, and we establish connections and influence so as to open a seat at the table for women to lead real progress.

And, we are premiering our new web-based Economic Development Center that provides an online community that connects women regionally and by interest area so that we can keep leaders connected and deliver timely information and connections to continue our growth and impact on women's economic issues.

Womenetics: What do you think is the major obstacle preventing more women business owners from being competitive at the national level? How do you recommend they overcome this obstacle?
Dorfman: To be successful and grow businesses, women need to have a level playing field. As an example – let’s take federal government contracting. Women own one-third of all businesses, but the federal government’s goal for doing business with women is only 5 percent -- and they have yet to reach that goal, leaving women-owned firms at a loss of billions of dollars each year. The last decade we are talking upwards of $70 billion. The U. S. Women's Chamber of Commerce stepped up and sued the Small Business Administration (SBA) to implement a law that would assist women to access federal contracts. It is finally implemented, but it took more than 10 years to do so.

And while the law has been implemented, we won’t see parity until we win one-third of all U. S. contracts. Women need to join together to increase the goal, strategically work to win contracts, and, moreover, commit to support each other’s growth.

The U. S. Women's Chamber of Commerce has formed the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) National Council as a platform for women to connect and work together to bring about parity and economic growth. Anyone who is interested in accessing federal contracts is welcome to join us.

Womenetics: What has been the most important lesson you have learned during your career, and how does that lesson help you today?
Dorfman: Stay true to yourself. My first job out of college was at a nonprofit. My boss had the habit of asking me for ideas, which I gladly provided – sometimes I would give her an answer I thought she wanted. She in turn would float them to management, and, when she was praised for the idea, she took the credit; when the idea was looked on as a failure, I got the blame. She also told me I would never make a good manager.

That being said, I have since taken responsibility for all of my decisions and stayed true to myself and my values -- which include parity and economic success for all. When I step out to represent our members against the SBA, before congress, or wherever else I may be needed, I am able to stand strong no matter what is thrown at me.

Also, I know never to listen to anyone who is negative when it comes to your passions and dreams. You can and will succeed if you are truly committed – you, no doubt, will run into ups and downs, but that is true whether you stick true to yourself or not.

Womenetics: How do you and your team determine your national legislative priorities to promote women's economic issues?
Dorfman: Our legislative agenda was established by our members when we first established the U. S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce. We asked a simple question – what do you need to grow your businesses? Their answers were: access to markets – especially federal contracts; access to capital; and access to affordable benefits like health care. Our strategy has been to focus only on those issues until they are complete – it has taken 10 plus years for access to federal contracts. Since banks are not lending, our strategy for access to capital is to focus women’s purchasing power to women-owned firms and women-friendly firms. And for affordable benefits, we have leveraged our scale to establish subsidiaries which provide solutions that cut the bottom line for business owners so they can stay competitive in the marketplace (http://www.smartretire.com)

Womenetics: How did your experience in executive management with Fortune 500 companies such as General Mills prepare you for advocating for women's issues at the national level?
Dorfman: I have a full view of the members we serve because I have worn every shoe – I have experienced discrimination in corporate America; left corporate America to start my own business where I have leveraged my personal assets to start and grow my business, accessed an SBA loan (and paid it off!), worried about covering payroll, and generally experienced every issue business owners face. And I run the chamber as a business – we are here to serve our members by advancing their economic status, whether as an individual, career professional, or business owner; that is my job and I am fully committed to it.

Womenetics: What advice would you share with women trying to grow their small businesses?
Dorfman: While the economy is tough, there are opportunities to be born. Do your homework first, stick to your core product or service while developing your niche, and make sound financial decisions.

Womenetics: How do you see the role of women in business changing over the next decade?
Dorfman: Today we are at the jumping off point for a new, more influential world for women. With the remarkable movement of women into business ownership and the surge of women’s buying power, we have the opportunity to leverage the great strength of our buying power and our women-owned firms to secure the next cornerstone of the women’s movement.

By focusing our purchasing with women-owned firms, we dramatically grow women’s businesses and increase the influence women have over the entire business and employment marketplace.

The most important financial story of the next decade will be how women consolidate our century of economic gains to focus our financial clout placing our own “ownership” stamp on how businesses, services, and values are driven to create a better world for all.

Womenetics: What do you see as the biggest concern for women in business today, and how is the U. S. Women's Chamber of Commerce working to combat that concern?
Dorfman: First, to address our specific financial recession, I see the biggest concern women face today is simple economic stability and energy. We must restore a sense of confidence and growth in our business marketplace. Women's businesses tend to be smaller than the market whole. Consequently, economic downturns can be very hard to withstand. A more vibrant overall economy, access to capital, and increased access to markets will put women's businesses back on a path to growth.

Second, more generally, the biggest concern we see for women's businesses today is the marginalization we face when seeking access to larger market opportunities. We are still shut out of federal government markets and large corporate supply chains. We must come together to build stronger business alliances and act together to advance our interests so that we can break through to greater revenue growth. Women's businesses need to achieve higher revenue standards so that our firms can become more dynamic and influential.

Womenetics: What do you do to unwind and relax?
Dorfman: Exercise – run on a beach or basketball court, swim, hike, boogie board, and bicycle are my preferences. And an occasional night out at the theater.

Based near Atlanta, Shala Hainer has been writing and copyediting since 1995. Beginning her career at newspapers such as the Marietta Daily Journal and the Atlanta Business Chronicle, she most recently wrote and edited articles for several nonprofit organizations before purchasing a flower shop in 2006. She earned a bachelor’s in communications from Jacksonville State University.