Commerce Department services assist women business owners

Business America, Feb 18, 1985

Commerce Department Services Assist Women Business Owners

Whether you want to start up your own travel agency or export software, the U.S. Department of Commerce is a good resource to tap for assistance.

A program held Jan. 31 for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and Women in Government Relations (WGR) at the Commerce Department in Washington D.C., demonstrates the Department's commitment to assist women business owners.

The program was one of an ongoing series of business briefings, workshops, and orientations organized for businesswomen by the Department's Office of Business Liaison (OBL). A schedule of upcoming OBL programs for businesswomen will be included in a future issue of Business America.

At the session, a panel of top women Commerce Department officials described the services available from their agencies to help U.S. women-owned businesses, such as providing loans, grants and counseling, and purchasing goods and services from women-owned firms.

Paula Unruh, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service (US&FCS), told the group of business women, "The door is wide open for women business owners to get involved in exporting. With only one percent of U.S. business generating 80 percent of U.S. exports, the US&FCS is trying to get small and medium-sized businesses involved in exporting through its numerous export promotion programs and services.'

She described the US&FCS as the only U.S. Government organization that tries to bring buyer and seller together. "We at US&FCS want to help women business owners begin exporting. We want to help you obtain financing and introduce you to overseas representatives and distributors,' said Unruh.

The US&FCS has 68 U.S. offices which are linked to 124 overseas posts in 68 countries providing a worldwide network of some 1,300 men and women dedicated to increasing the exports and profits of U.S. companies. Four top women US&FCS District Office leaders are profiled on p. 19.

"The primary goal of the United States Travel and Tourism Administration (USTTA),' according to that agency's Under Secretary, Donna Tuttle, "is to promote travel to the United States to expand export earnings through trade in tourism.'

To increase the U.S. share of the international tourism market, USTTA has expanded its training and technical assistance to include travel agents, tour operators, state and city tourism officials and other travel industry groups in the United States and abroad.

Tuttle encourages women interested in the travel and tourism field to pursue it. "Some 75 percent of all travel and tourism business is handled by women,' she informed the program participants. USTTA also provides consulting and technical assistance to those interested in international marketing.

Kay Bulow, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Administration, focused her discussion on government procurement. She advised women business owners to make every effort to sell to the world's largest customer, the federal government.

"The Department of Commerce buys every product imaginable and is particularly interested in adding women-owned businesses to its bidders lists,' she said. Bulow is very active in making sure women get a fair share of Commerce Department contracts. She recommends the publication Ask Us for detailed information on what the Commerce Department buys and who to contact there (see box on p. 18). She also suggested that women remind procurement officials they deal with that their companies are small (if that's the case) and women-owned.

The Office of Intergovernmental Affairs maintains contact with the elected state and local officials whose business brings them to the Commerce Department, explained Mary Ann Knauss, the office's Deputy Assistant Secretary.

Knauss also chairs the Outreach Subcommittee of the White House Inter-Agency Committee on Women's Business Enterprise, and reported on some of the subcommittee's programs. "We have held federal procurement conferences for women business owners across the country and we are planning more. The problem is that many women owners are not on any business lists and cannot therefore be notified of these conferences.'

Knauss encouraged the women to get on more lists so that they can be informed of Commerce Department "outreach' programs and contacted for various procurement opportunities. She identified the Automated Source System (PASS) as a valuable list for women business owners to join. Both federal and corporate procurement operations use PASS regularly to identify women-owned firms for solicitation of bids. Of the 19,204 women in PASS, 10,402 are either actively exporting or are interested in exporting. (See back cover for more information on PASS).

Susan Stuebing is Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and also serves as Deputy Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Stuebing explained that NTIA offers grants for the cost of planning and up to 75 percent matching grants for constructing public telecommunications facilities. She noted to the group that NTIA is required to give special consideration to grant applications which would increase minority and female ownership of noncommercial, public telecommunications facilities.