It is our goal, in this quarterly e-newsletter, to provide a concise digest of news, information, and links to: 1) educate, 2) enlighten and 3) empower your work on behalf of nascent, new, established and growing women-owned enterprises around the world. Our subscribers come from all walks of life - corporations, NGOs, associations, the public sector, and educational institutions - but share a common interest in supporting women's enterprise development in their communities and around the world. We hope you find this information of interest.

Womenable was founded in August 2005 by Julie Weeks, former Executive Director of the National Women's Business Council and Director of Research of the Center for Women's Business Research. To learn more about Womenable, visit our web site.

The Kauffman Foundation recently unveiled a fascinating report focused on a largely unexplored population: women angel investors. The report, "Women and Angel Investing: An Untapped Pool of Equity for Entrepreneurs", shows that, despite their growing numbers and wealth, high net worth women remain an underutilized and largely unorganized source of equity capital. The report provides insights and recommendations from leading women angels on how to encourage more women to become angel investors. It is estimated that, among the approximately 225,000 active angels who invested $23.1 billion in nearly 50,000 entrepreneurial deals in 2005, no more than 8% are women.

Encouraging angel investing is also getting the attention of the U.S. Congress. Two new bills coming from the House Small Business Committee are looking into ways to encourage more angel investing. One, the Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs (ACE) Act of 2006 (H.R. 5198) would create a 25% tax credit for individual angel investors or partnerships that invest up to $250,000 in qualified small businesses. Another bill, the Angels Nurture Growing Entrepreneurs into Long-Term Success (ANGELS) Act of 2006 (H.R. 4565), would create a new Office of Angel Investment at the Small Business Administration. In addition to promoting angel investing as an innovative practice, the Office would make investments (of up to $2 million) to qualified angel groups. To view the text and progress of both bills, visit the Library of Congress' THOMAS web site.

New research documenting some of the best practices in procurement from women-owned businesses utilized by Federal agencies in the U.S. is now available from the National Women's Business Council. The study, "Best Practices in Federal Procurement: A Study of the Successes and Barriers for Women-Owned Businesses," is based on interviews with Federal procurement officials, women business owners, and leaders of women's business associations. The full report, executive summary, and the press release (issued July 6) can all be found by clicking the link above.

The NWBC has also recently updated and reorganized the web site it maintains which provides women business owners with useful information and links to Federal procurement opportunities. Check out the new look of womenbiz.gov.

For the third year in a row, the International Council for Small Business, in cooperation with the NWBC, has awarded a Best Paper for Women's Entrepreneurship at their annual conference. This year's winner came from the UK and is entitled, "Theory, Practice and Policy: An Integrated View on Gender, Networks and Social Capital." The 2005 and 2004 winners were, respectively: "Evaluation of Policy Implementation in Women Entrepreneurship Development" from Nigeria, and "Strategic Capacities of Ghanaian Female Business Owners and the Performance of Their Ventures." To view and download any or all of these papers, visit Womenable's "Publications List" page.

The International Finance Corporation's Gender Entrepreneurship Markets initiative has recently published their latest e-newsletter. It is available in Arabic, English, Farsi and French.

Mixing Business and Pleasure: Here's an interesting survey tidbit - a recent poll of entrepreneurs found that business owners say that love is good for business. Fully 83% of married entrepreneurs report that being married has improved their business' bottom line. Business owners give a "thumbs up" to love and marriage in three of the four areas surveyed: finances, focus and self-esteem. The only area in which they reported slightly more negative effects from being in love was the impact on their time. Click here for more information.

Hedy Ratner and Carol Dougal (2nd row in photo, 3rd and 4th from left) co-founded the Women's Business Development Center in Chicago in 1986, and have led the organization together for the past 20 years. The WBDC is thus the longest-standing women's business center in the U.S. - and has grown in size, scope of services, and stature over that time to become the "mother ship" of the women's business center movement.

Womenable recently spoke with Carol and Hedy, asking them to reflect on the past, present and future of women's enterprise development from their perspectives. More ...

Learn more about the Women's Business Development Center.

There's a new international women's business organization on the horizon that you should be aware of - the Network of Entrepreneurial Women Worldwide (NEWW).

Founding members from 10 countries spanning Africa, Europe, North America and the Pacific formally launched the organization at an event in Amsterdam in May. The mission of NEWW is to:

• raise the profile of women entrepreneurs at a national and international level
• promote leadership opportunities and business training for women entrepreneurs, nationally and internationally
• make representation at national and international levels on public policy issues affecting women entrepreneurs
• ensure all activities of the organisation are to the highest ethical and professional standards, and
• ensure open and effective communication

The organization will be registered and headquartered in Paris. Their web site (www.newworldwide.org) is still under development. For additional information about NEWW, please contact international liaison Arline Woutersz at woutersz@aol.com.

And what's soon to be new?

The U.S. Census Bureau has published 6 of 8 reports coming out of the quinquennial 2002 economic census. The Survey of Women Business Owners, reported by Womenable in our second quarter issue, was the first detailed subgroup report. Now that all of the others have been published (Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native American/Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander), company summary reports will be coming out soon - including a report which will detail the progress in the number and economic growth of businesses owned by women of color. Monitor the Census Bureau's 2002 Economic Census page for the link to those reports as they become available.

email: jweeks@womenable.com

web: http://www.womenable.com