National Association of Women Business Owners

6 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 4 every year in January or February featuring guest speakers and panel discussions on topics ranging from resiliency and communication to time management and diversity. There is also special leadership training for NAWBO chapter leaders from across the U.S. and a community service component. In June, NAWBO hosts Advocacy Days where attendees have the chance to hear from and interact with legislators. “They present to us and then our members schedule appointments and meetings with their local legislators,” Bennetts says. “So they’re able to talk about their issues, their challenges and their needs directly with their own legislators so that the legislators get to hear our members’ voices directly. It’s not just what our board or our advocacy people want to tell them, they have real-world examples.” In October, NAWBO holds the annual National Women’s Business Conference, which includes three days of national speakers, workshops, and educational programs. “It’s our largest event for the year,” Bennetts says. In addition to its own conferences and events, NAWBO has worked to build international relationships with similar organizations across the globe. They’ve worked in partnership with organizations like Les Femmes Chefs d’Entreprises Mondiales (FCEM) out of Europe and the Mexican Association of Business Women (AMEXME). “We’re expanding those relationships and offering more opportunities for our members who are interested in those to go to their conferences and be involved,” Bennetts says. “We’ve hosted a couple of them here in the States, as well. It’s really wonderful to have.” A big part of what NAWBO strives to accomplish is being diverse. They’ve had a diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiative for years but have recently begun to kick that up a notch. “We are committed to being recognized as the most diverse and inclusive organization for entrepreneurial women in the U.S. by our 50th anniversary, which is coming up in 2025,” Bennetts says. “It’s woven into every single thing that the organization does. It’s a focus, and a strategic focus of every single committee that our board works on, that our HQ staff works on. Every single thing that we do has a measurable objective and goal tied to our diversity, equity inclusion, and belonging initiative. We take it very, very seriously.” NAWBO has new objectives on the horizon now, with a newly launched, redesigned website and technology upgrade that will feature a new database and new microsites for each chapter. They have also rolled out a new WBE (Women’s Business Enterprise) and MWBE (Minority Women’s Business Enterprise) certification program through their NAWBO Institute. “We are joining today’s other certification organizations in making that certification accessible to all women business owners because we know that less than 1 percent of more than 12 million entrepreneurs are currently certified and that certification can open doors of NAT IONAL ASSOC I AT ION OF WOMEN BUS INESS OWNERS