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Until fairly recently there has not been much help available in terms of empowering women in business. They have largely had to empower themselves with little support from the business world. There are now a number of resources for empowering women in business and helping them achieve advancement in the world of business.

The National Association of Women in Business is a case of women helping women. Resources existing for empowering women in business through the National Association include opportunities for networking, resource information, and experienced advice and training from successful women in business, entrepreneurs and other professionals.

The practice of networking for empowering women in business has long been a process used by successful men…simply using the connections, the knowledge and the influence of others to climb the ladder of success. Women helping women through networking is a source of empowerment for women in business.

Part of empowering women in business is of course continuing education in the field chosen by a woman. This can be on a formal or informal basis. Full knowledge of the workings of an industry in which woman is working is essential to empowering a business woman. Empowering a woman in business is the drive to achieve, to improve, to learn every aspect of what she is involved in.

A sense of the availability of support of one kind or another is part of empowering a woman in business. Being aware of opportunities is a form of a business woman’s empowerment. The courage to accept a challenge is a form of empowerment for a business woman. The knowledge that others are slowly increasing achievement is part of the empowerment of business women.

Media support…the public acknowledgement and presentation of women’s achievements is a form of empowerment to women in business. For example, Fortune Magazine’s publication of the lists of powerful women in corporate or world positions is a source of empowerment to women in business; they realize they can go there as never before.

The availability of financial aid, sometimes through local banks or through the Small Business Association, can provide empowerment for business women aiming toward management positions or as entrepreneurs. Recognizing the recent advancement of women in business, financial institutions are more favorably inclined to grant financial empowerment to women in business.

As more and more women advance to positions of president and CEA of major corporations, this very fact grants empowerment to women in business at every level. The fact that the world is daily forced to recognize the progress of women in business and world affairs is itself empowerment to other business women.

There are literally millions of women business entrepreneurs and the numbers are growing daily. These women business entrepreneurs own and operate businesses of every kind, from sales to service to home-based businesses ranging from computer services to agricultural enterprises. In 2005, there were over 10 million women-owned businesses in the US. and women business entrepreneurs start new businesses at twice the rate of men.

Although more women business entrepreneurs are starting businesses than are their male counterparts, they have more difficulty in getting original financing. There are several sources of financing, however, for women business entrepreneurs. Some state and local development departments can offer some assistance if approached with a good plan. The National Association of Women in Business will also assist beginning women business entrepreneurs. Community banks are sometimes a source of initial funding for women
business entrepreneurs, but may require previous credit and a sound business plan to consider offering some financing for startups.

The existing 10 million plus women-owned businesses now in the US represent 28% of all businesses. In the years from 1997 to 2002, businesses operated by women business entrepreneurs grew well over 50%. An interesting statistic concerning women business entrepreneurs is the number of businesses owned and operated by Hispanic and Asian women business entrepreneurs. This is the fastest growing segment of such businesses, increasing during the cited period by around 65%.

Among small women-owned businesses, many receive initial funding from family and friends. This is possibly true among the Hispanic and Asian communities which could be accountable for the faster increase in women business entrepreneurs in these groups.

Not only in the US, but around the world, women are increasingly founding their own businesses. In developing and under-developed countries women often start a home-based business in agriculture, where these women business entrepreneurs may be able to start cultiating a garden or raising pigs with as little as $800 initial financing. There are organizations through which one can contribute to help women business entrepreneurs in struggling countries worldwide.

Networking for women in business has existed in some form almost from the beginning of the movements which marked the rise of women in business. Networking for women in business was one of the aims of the first business women’s organization as early as the 1920;s when the Business and Professional Women’s Club was founded. Almost immediately this club fostered networking for women in business when it traveled to Europe to form a sister club.

Women realized early that networking for women in business needed to work the way networking worked for their male counterparts. Networking for women in business is simply a way of women communicating and banding together to help each other. Today, many organizations exist to implement networking for women in business. These include such organizations as the National Association of Women in Business, the Association of Women Business Owners and the Women’s Leadership Exchange.

Through disseminating information, holding conferences both locally and nationally, various women’s organizations foster networking for women in business. New organizations are regularly being formed, both nationally in the US and internationally, to foster networking for women in business. There are minority organizations as well to develop networking among various minority women, including Hispanic women, black women and Asian women who are developing their own businesses.

Networking for women in business can work in a number of ways. Some of the organizations who promote networking for women in business apprise women of new developments in their field of work, and areas where opportunities exist. Through networking for women in,business. Women in major companies can hire and train other women, or can inform them of opportunities in their area. The organizations which promote networking for women in business hold regular conferences where women can meet and learn from colleagues and major figures in the business world. Networking for business women is simply a way of women helping women through information, advice, advancement and example.

Networking for women in business will hopefully help women to eventually achieve equal status with men in the corporate world and as entrepreneurs. Networking for women in business also helps to achieve major goals involving legislative and global powers comparable to those attained by their male colleagues..