A substantial part of Women Impacting Public Policy’s (WIPP) Federal Procurement Programming lies undoubtedly with ChallengeHER. ChallengeHER is an educational program, which provides women business owners with the guidance to better compete for federal contracts under the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contract Program.
In order to provide as much impact as possible and to get women business owners together with federal buyers, ChallengeHER events are being held in several cities and states throughout 2015. As the year is progressing toward the fall season, several events have already been held (e.g. Washington D.C., New York, Dallas, Atlanta, New Hampshire), but many more are still scheduled until the end of the year. And what can participants expect?
ChallengeHER provides women around the United States with the most important, standardized knowledge and guidance in the federal marketplace and an opportunity to:
- Learn about the WOSB set aside program and how to market their business using this set aside.
- Learn from experiences and best practices of successful WOSBs working as federal contractors.
- Find out from federal buyers how to do business with their agency in Federal Buyer’s Panel.
- Participate in one-on-one matchmaking sessions with federal buyers at most events.
- Learn about the new Sole Source Authority rule! More information on SBA’s announcement integrating a sole source component into the WOSB procurement program starting October 14, 2015, can be found here.
- Network with peer mentors and other WOSB and Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB) firms.
Some of the participants’ feedback:
“I am glad I was able to attend ChallengeHER. The speakers were great and very informative.” – Attendee from New Hampshire event
“ChallengeHER provided me with pathway to applying for federal contracts and becoming a successful women business owner.” – Attendee from Atlanta event
“I truly appreciate the information shared. It provoked me to think differently about how I was running m
y business. I was so inspired I even recorded the speech.” – Attendee from Atlanta event
“As well as strong individual speakers, it was particularly helpful to have “panels” that provided different perspectives at once.” – Attendee from NYC event
Registration for upcoming events is available for:
- Santa Ana, October 8
- Cincinnati, October 16
- Denver, October 21
- Washington D.C., November 6 (Department of Energy)
More events to come will be held in Central New Jersey, Baltimore, Kansas City, and Orlando in Florida throughout November and early December 2015.
ChallengeHER aims not only to provide one time learning experience but also to build a standing long-term knowledge and support base for its participants. Therefore additional resources are available for attendees both before and after the event:
- To prepare and get ready for discussions and topics covered during the event by listening the following courses:
- To follow up on gained knowledge and sort out where to go from there, by following 10 Quick Steps for guidance to successful federal contracting.
For those of you, who are not familiar with the program, here is some basic information:
ChallengeHER, an initiative from the U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA), WIPP, and American Express OPEN (OPEN), is designed to strengthen and promote the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contract Program. ChallengeHER offers women business owners important information to established and new businesses on working with the federal government. Further, these events enable more women business owners to take advantage of contracting opportunities so they can boost their businesses and help propel the success of the WOSB Procurement Program.
For more information on upcoming events and news visit our website and connect with us online on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.
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