Special Small Business Administration Event...

...Will Recognize Top Women Entrepreneurs

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Small Business Administration will celebrate the success of women-owned businesses in the United States by recognizing some of the nation’s best and brightest women entrepreneurs at a special September event.

The special event, Celebrating Women in Business, will honor the remarkable achievements of women in business. It is a highlight of the SBA’s National Entrepreneurial Conference & Expo (NECE), scheduled for September 17-19, 2003. NECE is one of a series of events across the country over the coming months that will mark the SBA’s 50th anniversary.

Celebrating Women in Business, which is being conducted in co-sponsorship with HP, will honor a dynamic group of women entrepreneurs. These women represent the changing face of entrepreneurship and range in service from a construction firm to a shoe designer. The honorees recognized will include:

• Tina Cordova, president and CEO of Queston Construction. Cordova combined her hatural administrative knack and formal medical school training to form Queston Construction, and literally learned the construction trade form the ground up.
• Lurita Doan, president of New Technology Management, launched her business with $5 worth of stationery, and has built a business with more than $20 million in revenue.
• Rebecca Matthais, president and COO of Mothers Work has become a national retailer of maternity clothing for professional women.
• Dr. Taryn Rose, president and founder of Taryn Rose International, Inc. Rose, an orthopedic surgeon by training, seized an opportunity to make better women’s footwear that combined comfort and style.

The event will be held at the Ballroom East of the Washington Hilton & Towers hotel Thursday, Sept. 18, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., in Washington, D.C. SBN Deputy Administrator Melanie R. Sabelhaus will host the event, where more than 100 women’s business organizations will be represented.

The number of women-owned businesses is growing at twice the rate of all U.S. businesses. Women are owners in 9.1 million businesses in the U.S., account for 35% of all businesses, employ 27.5 million workers and generate $3.6 trillion in revenues.

For additional information, contact Sue Hensley, sue.Hensley@sba.gov, 202-205-6555. Press registration for NECE events will be taken online at http://www.sba.gov/50. For updates on the SBA’s National Entrepreneurial Conference & Expo, visit the conference Web site http://www.sba.gov/50/.