In honor of Women’s History Month, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Women’s Business Ownership and the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center co-sponsored the 2022 Women’s Business Summit.

Hosted by Assistant Administrator Natalie Madeira Cofield, the two day virtual event on March 29th and 30th included power-packed panels, inspirational fireside chats, and ‘Ask an Expert’ workshops that helped women business owners build, scale, and grow their businesses. We were especially honored to hear remarks from the Vice President of the United States of America Kamala Harris.

The Center was thrilled to join in this incredible inaugural event with the SBA celebrating Women Business Owners across America. Having a shared space to hear from these exceptional women and learn from each other was meaningful. The numbers are clear. Women, especially women of color, are starting businesses at faster rates than history has ever seen before. Recognizing the impact women entrepreneurs are creating to build vibrant, healthy, diverse economies across our nation gives us great optimism and confidence in all the opportunities that lie ahead.

We invite you to watch the videos of the incredible conversations that were had over those two days. We’re sure you will be as inspired as we were with the engagement and insights. The full agenda can be found here. Following the videos, you will find a list of links shared over the course of the two days, both in the chat and mentioned by the speakers.

DAY 1

DAY 2

Join the Center community by partaking in some of our upcoming opportunities:

• Sign up for our Newsletter with Upcoming Classes. We promise we’ll serve you up to some exceptional classes and learning opportunities and are always respectful of your time (and inbox). Sign up here. 
• Join an Open House for Milestone Circles and Mentor Makers to learn more about our top program recommendations for you hosted by our Program Manager, Kamy Taylor, and Marketing Lead, Brooke Palizi. Click here to learn more! 
• Attend a Welcome Session & Finance Optionality Office Hour with Nicola Corzine alongside Center board members Roburta Burroughs and Michelle Di Gangi. Click here to learn more! 
• Treat yourself to a Coaching Hour for Women Entrepreneurs focused on wellness and rejuvenation hosted by a Center coach. This time in community and spaciousness is the biggest treat you can give yourself all month. Sign up here

Links and Resources from the Women’s Business Summit:

Building an Equitable Recovery Framework for Women Entrepreneurs

• Learn more about Walker’s Legacy at Walker’s Legacy – Establishing the future generation of enterprising female millionaires of color. (walkerslegacy.com). Their business accelerator program can be found at PROSPECTUS Business Accelerator (main page) – Walker’s Legacy (walkerslegacy.com)
• You can the Native Women Lead team at Leadership Team — Native Women Lead
• Explore George Washington University’s entrepreneurship programs at School of Business | The George Washington University (gwu.edu). You can find information on their Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership fellowship at gwu.edu/WEL.

Innovation and Investment

• Learn more about the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce at Largest, Most Established Asian American Business… | USPAACC
• Information on all of the Surdna Foundation’s programs is available at Supporting Just and Sustainable Communities – Surdna Foundation
• Read about the First Women’s Bank and their services at First Women’s Bank (firstwomens.bank)
• All programs and information on SBA’s Office of Investment and Innovation is available at Office of Investment and Innovation (sba.gov)

From Essential Worker to Essential Entrepreneur: CARE Economy Entrepreneurship Opportunities

• Learn more about the Opportunities Exchange at Opportunities Exchange-OpportunitiesExchange (oppex.org)
• You can learn about the Mom Project at The Mom Project
• Learn about this Connecticut Women’s Business Center at Homepage – Women’s Business Development Council | The leader in providing entrepreneurial training and financial education for women in Connecticut (ctwbdc.org). You can find more information about their childcare opportunity fund at Child Care Business Opportunity Fund – Women’s Business Development Council | The leader in providing entrepreneurial training and financial education for women in Connecticut (ctwbdc.org)
• Learn more about all the SBA offices involved in the childcare initiative:
  • Office of Veterans Business Development (sba.gov)
  • Office of Women’s Business Ownership (sba.gov)
  • Office of Capital Access (sba.gov)
  • Office of Government Contracting & Business Development (sba.gov)

The $100B Marketplace: Contracting Opportunities for Women-led Firms

• Information on the 8(a) program is available at 8(a) Business Development program (sba.gov)
• Explore the opportunities and resources from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization at US DOT Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization | US Department of Transportation
• Find how Procurement and Technical Assistance Centers can assist you at Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (dla.mil)
• Find potential contracting opportunities in your state from the Infrastructure Bill at Building a Better America | The White House

Exporting & E-Commerce

• SBA’s Office of International Trade can be found at Office of International Trade | Resources | The U.S. Small Business Administration | SBA.gov
• Learn about Shea Yeleen and their global footprint at Pure Natural Moisturizing Shea Butter – SheaYeleen
• Learn about Two Rivers Fisheries at HOME | Two Rivers Fisheries
• Explore Nasdaq TradeTalks’ topics and interviews at Nasdaq TradeTalks | Nasdaq
• Learn about PayPal’s small business services at PayPal Business | Merchant Services for SMBs | PayPal US

Investment and Innovation Ask an Expert Session

• Find more information about the SBIR/ STTR program at gov
• Find SBIR local assistance at Find Local Assistance | SBIR.gov
• An overview of the SBIR/STTR program is available at https://bit.ly/SBIRflyer2022
• You can learn more about the SBIR/STTR programs at Course Selection | SBIR.gov
• Research and find SBICs at Investment capital (sba.gov)

Contracting and Certification Ask an Expert Session

• Find more information about the women-owned small business (WOSB) certification at www.sba.gov/wosbready

• You can learn more about the newly added NAICS code for WOSB contracts at Certify.sba.gov. Find NAICS code definitions at www.census.gov.
• assistance, contact your local SBA regional and district office, SBA resource partner, or the Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC at aptac-us.org) with questions.
• The certify.sba.gov Knowledge Base is a valuable resource for firms to get started learning about this new platform with how-to videos, user guides, and more
• For programmatic questions on the WOSB Federal Contracting Program, please email wosb@sba.gov.

• Technical help requests for Beta.certify.sba.gov can be submitted via the “help” tab: https://beta.certify.sba.gov/help.

• Find the 8(a) BD Program Application at https://certify.sba.gov.
• Information on the regulations for the 8(a) BD Program (13 CFR § 124) can be found at found at ecfr.gov.
• Please research contracting opportunities at sam.gov.
• SBA’s Dynamic Small Business Search database is available at https://web.sba.gov/pro-net/search/dsp_dsbs.cfm
• Questions regarding the 8(a) BD Program can be sent to 8aquestions@sba.gov.

Accessing SBA Resource Providers Ask an Expert Session

• You can learn about SBA’s Office of Entrepreneurial Development and their programs at https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/sba-locations/headquarters-offices/office-entrepreneurial-development
• To find your nearest local resource provider go to, Get local assistance (sba.gov)
• Connect with mentors through SBA’s Score program at SCORE Business Mentoring (sba.gov)
• Find information on Ascent and their journeys at https://ascent.sba.gov/
• Information on SBA’s Emerging Leader’s Initiative is available at https://www.sba.gov/sba-learning-platform/emerging-leaders-initiative
• Find SBA’s full learning platform at SBA’s learning platform is available at https://www.sba.gov/sba-learning-platform
• You can find more information on the WBC network at https://www.sba.gov/local-assistance/resource-partners/womens-business-centers
• You can find more information on the SDBC network at Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) (sba.gov)
• Explore the Community Navigators program at Community Navigators (sba.gov)

Exporting and International Trade Ask an Expert

• You can send follow up questions to international@sba.gov.
• Find information and resources at SBA Trade Tools, sba.gov/tradetools
• Find information on the Manufacturing Extension Partnership at https://www.nist.gov/mep

Accessing Loans and Microfinance Ask an Expert

• Find more information on SBA’s microloan program at https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/microloans
• Explore the 7(a) program at https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/7a-loans
• Find information on SBA’s 504 loan at https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/504-loans
• Find information on SBA’s disaster assistance programs at https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/disaster-assistance
• Explore SBA’s Funding Programs at https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs
• Go directly to SBA lender match at https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/lender-match
• You can sign up for SBA’s newsletter at https://www.sba.gov/updates

About Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center:
The Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center is a non-profit committed to growing inclusion and access for entrepreneurs worldwide. The Center meets the real time needs of entrepreneurs through educational programming and then shares its learnings with policy-leaders, capital allocators and academic institutions. Established with the support of the Nasdaq Educational Foundation, the Center has been a resource for more than 50,000 entrepreneurs since its inception in 2014, a majority of whom come from underrepresented audiences. For more information please visit: http://thecenter.nasdaq.org/.