Why WBE certification matters for your business
Entrepreneurs looking to work on corporate opportunities that are recognized by state and local entities and seeking to engage in government contracts know how important it is to get certified. Women who are business owners definitely need to take advantage of the Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) Certification to further level the playing field for their businesses.
The WBE certification is exclusively for women-owned businesses, giving them the eligibility to compete for and work on state and local entities recognized corporate opportunities.
Recent statistics show that women-owned firms (51 percent or more) account for 31 percent of all privately held firms and contribute 14 percent of employment and 12 percent of revenues, and 4.2 percent of all women-owned firms have revenues of 1 million or more. What the WBE certification does is to give these women-owned businesses a greater impetus to succeed.
Why WBE certification matters
● It supports women-owned businesses by helping them to develop requisite business strategies and gives them access to new markets and contracts.
● For businesses who desire to participate in programs requiring the utilization and tracking of women-owned businesses such as corporate supplier diversity programs or federal procurement programs, certification is a must.
● The only way that purchasing agents can truly have confidence that a business that represents itself as woman-owned is in fact woman-owned is through WBE certification.
● Many corporations, including publicly held and larger private corporations, usually track and have special programs for doing business with women business owners.
● Most local, state and federal government purchasing agencies also rely on WBE Certification to track and have programs for doing business with women-owned vendor companies.
Eligibility
To qualify for a WBE certification, these are the conditions that must be met:
● A woman must own, manage, and be in control of at least 51 percent of the business.
● Such a woman owner must be a citizen of the United States or a legal resident.
● She must serve the company in the capacity of either CEO or president.
● She must have had ownership of the company for at least six months and must have held the president or CEO position for that same period.
● She must be currently actively involved in the daily management of the company and must make long-term decisions that affect the business.
Getting certified
A woman-owned business may either get certified by an SBA-approved Third-Party Certifier (TPC) or alternatively self-certify in accordance with current SBA regulations. A self-certification for purposes of the WOSB (women-owned small business) Program means the business has not used a Third-Party Certifier; has provided all the required documents to the WOSB Repository; is registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), and has made a representation as a WOSB.
For Third-Party Certification, the four currently approved SBA approved TPCs are Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC); El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; US Women’s Chamber of Commerce; and National Women Business Owners Corporation.
To get certified, follow the steps below:
● Register in SAM.gov.
● Create a new user account at certify.SBA.gov.
● Start the process by clicking the link from the Dashboard to begin your self-certification or provide your TPC certification.
● Once you have uploaded all required documents, update your profile in SAM as a WBE.
● You must update your WOSB/WBE certification information at least once a year.
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