NAWCO-CI Blog

Guidelines for Posting to NAWBO-CI's Blog

This blog is open to NAWBO-CI members, corporate partners and alliance partners as a place for commentaries, insights and interactions that will benefit current and future WBOs in their professional and leadership development and in achieving success. Content that educates, inspires and assists WBOs is welcome. Unlike an individual blog which might serve as a personal diary of private thoughts or a tool for leading others to one's products and services, this is a "community" blog geared to sharing stories and experiences related to WBO issues (local, national and global), challenges and their solutions. Please submit posts as you wish them to appear to Pam@Schoffner.com. Each post will be identified by the individual, company name and website of the submitting member, corporate partner or alliance partner. NAWBO-CI reserves the right to contact you and not post material if submission is not in line with these guidelines. 

How NAWBO arrived in Central Iowa

NAWBO began to take shape in central Iowa in May of 1984 when more than 850 women from Iowa and surrounding states came to Des Moines for the Midwestern Women's Business Ownership Conference. I felt like I'd come out from under a rock! It was overwhelming because none of us had any idea that so many women-owned businesses existed. The energy we felt as a group was incredible; no one wanted to just say "that was nice" and go back to business as usual when the two-day event ended.  So in a ballroom at the Marriott after the last session, a small group sat around a banquet table and made plans to stick together.

This central Iowa group was appropriately called  the Roundtable, and when 10 Roundtable members were delegates to the 1986 White House Conference on Small Business, the Iowa WBOs came home from Washington, D.C., singing the praises of a national entity called NAWBO. They'd seen the knowledgeable members of NAWBO strategically negotiate, rally and put forth an agenda that would benefit WBOs nationwide. There was so much to learn from an organization that was started in 1975 by like-minded business women in the D.C. area. The Iowa WBOs wanted to affiliate with NAWBO, and The Roundtable became the Iowa Chapter of NAWBO in 1986.

NAWBO has risen to become the strong and unified voice of  more than 10 million women-owned busiesses across the country. There are 80 chapters around the country, and NAWBO-CI is the only chapter in Iowa.

- Pam Schoffner, P.S. Writes, www.schoffner.com

The NAWBO Difference

Would you believe there was a time when women business owners in central Iowa had few opportunities to connect with each other to share their business problems, celebrate their successes and work together on issues of importance to the bottom line for their companies?

That may be hard for today's WBOs to comprehend. Each week we now must carefully choose the breakfast, luncheon, cocktail or dinner events—from among a plethora of options—that are the most strategic for making connections and feeding our souls. We're overwhelmed every day with opportunities to gather with other women in business. And that brings me to the NAWBO difference.

Like other central Iowa groups, in NAWBO we connect, build friendships, share ideas, make referrals and sometimes do business with each other. But there are reasons why NAWBO is so much more and those reasons reach around the globe.

Being in the middle of the country, we sometimes forget that we're part of the nation's go-to group when our nation's leaders want to know the WBO viewpoint or reaction to proposed rules and regulations. We don't always remember that our organization is working in D.C. every day to impact the country's public policy in order to create a more favorable business climate for WBOs. What other locally based women's group is focused exclusively on the issues impacting women who own businesses?

Yes, we're local friends, but our sisters who will share business ideas, be part of our resource and referral network, and discuss their "been there done that" lessons with us number more than 8,000 women in the U.S. If you've ever needed advice on an industry issue you're facing, simply contact a NAWBO member with a similar company in another state. I can tell you that the open sharing and willingness to problem solve is worth your dues!

Plus, we're connected to even more WBO's worldwide through affiliation with Le Femmes Chefs d'Enterprises Mondiales, which extends to 60 countries on five continents.

NAWBO-CI is the Iowa-based chapter of the nation's only dues-based organization representing the interests of all women entrepreneurs across all industries. When you're a member, you're part of a one-stop resource to propel WBOs into greater economical, social and political spheres of power worldwide.

What's the value for you in being part of a national network dedicated to WBOs?

- Pam Schoffner, P.S. Writes, www.schoffner.com