CPA News Releases, Advisories, and Editorials

Washington, DC — “Women are the engines powering an unprecedented explosion of micro-enterprise and entrepreneurship,” said Linda Tarr-Whelan, President and CEO of the Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA). “As key leaders gather in Washington to plan the future of micro-enterprise, one of the goals should be to find the tools to help women succeed in small business.”

Micro-enterprise development, considered to be the key to sustainable growth in emerging economies, is also the foundation for building stability in economically at-risk communities across the U.S. The approaching challenge of national welfare reform through massive job creation can be met by the careful development of micro-enterprise strategies.

Initiatives aimed at developing micro-enterprises in the U.S. must take into account the integral role women play in micro-enterprise. Women-owned businesses are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. economy and it is predicted that by 2000 women will account for half of all U.S. businesses. According to CPA’s Women’s Voices ’96 survey, 3 in 10 women would like to own their own business, with two-thirds of women believing that more should be done to help small businesses get started.

Yet two of the most critical obstacles facing women entrepreneurs are a lack of access to capital — due to inadequate collateral, a need for small-scale loans, inability to afford commercial property, or lack of business education and track record — and the lack of established business networks and support systems, through which important business knowledge is shared both formally and informally.

There are steps that state governments can take to surmount these hurdles, said Anne Mosle, Director of CPA’s Women and the Economy program:

• Mentoring and training programs help women-owned businesses grow and succeed.
  
• Expanding Community Reinvestment Acts to include state-chartered banks can help lending to women owned businesses become a state-enforced priority.
  
• Expanding linked deposit and incentive deposit programs to include lending to women-owned businesses helps women overcome credit barriers.