Women entrepreneurs see progress over 25 years

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10-12-2010 Hedy Ratner, co-president of the WomenÕs Business Development Center, spent last week (Oct. 2-8) in Chisinau, Moldova as guest of the U.S. State Department. Her mission was to discuss womenÕs entrepreneurship and leadership, and to encourage women to play a larger role in the Moldovan business community. While there, she was honored at a dinner hosted by the U.S. Embassy. Hedy and her co-president Carol Dougal launched the WBDC almost 25 years ago as one of the nationÕs first organizations created to support womenÕs business ownership.

Updated: November 9, 2011 4:10PM

As the Women’s Business Development Center prepares to hold its 25th anniversary conference here Wednesday, many women entrepreneurs are grappling with the weak economy. And while many gains have been made for women entrepreneurs over the years, some past problems persist, says Hedy Ratner, co-founder of the center.

“There are some businesses that are succeeding and are doing well in this economy, but we’re also seeing so many of our businesses having a hard time,” she said. “Access to capital, it’s a critical issue. Because revenues are down, loans are being called. Women business owners, they’re losing their lines of credit. They’re sometimes being kicked out of banks. Some are struggling to survive. It’s an issue of survival and sustainability.”

Access to capital was a key issue for aspiring women business owners when the center first launched in 1986.

“At the early stages, access to capital, impossible, absolutely impossible unless you had your husband, your father, your brother, a male co-signing your loans,” she said.

Over the years, she stressed it improved as the U.S. Small Business Administration began guaranteeing loans and banks began to recognize the value of lending to women business owners, she said.

“Today there are financial institutions committed to lending,” Ratner said.

“When we first launched the center, less than 10 percent of businesses were women-owned,” Ratner said. “The major issue at that time was credibility, could women be successful business owners. Now, women-owned businesses have enormous credibility and are one of the most important economic engines of our economy today, the largest and fastest growing segment, creating more jobs than any other segment of the economy. We are a force in the economy.”

But among challenges women face amid the sluggish economy today are government and corporate buyers trimming their supplier lists and bundling contracts to reduce costs, she said. The center, which has helped more than 65,000 women business owners over the years, has advised women to explore partnerships and joint ventures to better compete for those larger contracts.

More than 2,000 women are expected to attend the center’s conference, event which targets women looking to expand or start businesses.

The conference will include a women’s business and buyers mart that will feature more than 200 corporate and government representatives committed to purchasing products and services from women business owners, as well as workshops and round table discussions offering advice.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel will give the keynote address at the conference luncheon, and Chicago Sun-Times financial columnist Terry Savage will moderate the forum panel breakfast. The breakfast will feature panelists, including Build a Bear Workshop founder Maxine Clark, Leylani Cardoso, founder of Bolzano Handbags and in-flight travel retailer Duty Free World International, Cathy Hughes founder of Radio One, the largest black-owned broadcast company in the U.S.,c and Lynn Tilton, founder of private-equity firm and holding company Patriarch Partners.

The conference will take place from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at McCormick Place West, 2301 S. Indiana Ave. The cost is $300. For more information or to register, visit www.wbdc.org or call (312) 853-3477, ext. 240.