Business Issues Highlighted in WE Decide 2016

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By: Ann Sullivan, WIPP’s Chief Advocate

WE-Decide-2016_editedIs it just me or are the candidates ignoring economic issues that are business women’s bread and butter? The election so far has largely centered on social issues and impossible promises such as free college. What about taxes, healthcare costs, employee issues, access to capital and access to markets? And what about a positive message? Business owners are optimists – if they didn’t believe America was great, they wouldn’t take the risk of investing in a business. Someone out there thinks America is still the land of opportunity—to the tune of 10 million women business owners.

In all my years of working with Congress and Administrations, Republican or Democrat, WIPP has always taken the view that women who are business owners are influencers in their communities and a trusted source of information. Their focus is on results, sensible regulations and an investment in small businesses. Therefore, they have the obligation and privilege to make a difference in elections and policy platforms.

Hence, the launch of WE Decide 2016, a collaboration with Personal BlackBox (PBB). WIPP has provided a platform for women entrepreneurs to have their voices heard during the 2016 elections. WE Decide 2016 engages women business owners and women entrepreneurs to focus our message. The opinions shared through this initiative will culminate in a policy platform, which will be shared with the candidates at both national conventions.

WE Decide 2016 utilizes an interactive online platform to conduct polling and outreach to women business owners on the issues that affect our lives and businesses everyday. Through quick polls and issue surveys, we will be able to ascertain women business owners’ views in a timely manner and we will share the results with the media.

What makes WE Decide 2016 different from all the other avenues to share your opinion? Thanks to our partner, Personal BlackBox, WE Decide 2016 gives women control of their personal data and a safe place to express opinions privately with peers. Unlike current Presidential polls run by CNN, the DNC and RNC and even Facebook, the information you share with WE Decide 2016 will never be sold to anyone.

So, let’s get started. First step: go to WE Decide 2016 and register. We need an initial number of 1000 registrants to do credible polls. Step Two: ask all of your friends and networks to join the effort. Since we are 10 million strong and an economic force, women business owners are in a unique position to shape the conversation around issues and approaches that resonate with us.

Act now. Our businesses and our future depend on it.

WIPP Comments on WOSB Certification Changes

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WIPP logo final copyWIPP submitted comments today to the SBA Office of Policy, Planning and Liaison on the SBA Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) regarding certification in the WOSB Program that was issued on December 18, 2015. The WOSB Program is extremely important in assisting women entrepreneurs entering the federal contracting marketplace. WIPP highlighted the following principles to guide the SBA in their implementation of the changes to the certification process.

Please see a brief outline of the principles below:

  • Third-Party Certification

                 -Keep the Integrity of the Program Intact – we are focused on making sure that    the changes to the certification process do not result in the disruption of the program.

  • State and Federal Agency Certification

                 -Expand Acceptable Certifications in a Uniform Manner – if certification is being accepted from multiple sources then we urge the SBA to have requirements set up so that there is as little duplicative paperwork as possible.

  • SBA WOSB Certification Program

                 -Without Adequate Resources, SBA Certification Will Fail WOSBs  

                 – Strengthen Compliance/Enforce Procedures

To see the submitted comments in their entirety, click here.

ChallengeHER Recognized in Budget Proposal

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CH-LogoBudgets are usually just about the numbers, but, every so often, they take respite from tables, spreadsheets, and account balances to acknowledge successful partnerships. Anyone taking a look at the President’s budget, released on February 9, found out who is working on behalf of women business owners when the Small Business Administration (SBA) highlighted the success of WIPP’s ChallengeHER initiative at bringing women-owned businesses into the federal marketplace. Having SBA acknowledge WIPP’s efforts demonstrates just how strong WIPP advocates have been.

Securing a contract with the federal government can double the revenue for a women-owned business and the ChallengeHER program has been providing education to women business owners on how to do just that. In 2013, WIPP partnered with American Express OPEN and SBA to offer events, workshops with access to an online curriculum, and mentoring opportunities that provide women entrepreneurs with knowledge and connections to help them successfully compete for federal contracts.

This year, WIPP is planning 18 ChallengeHER events across the country. For more information and to find the ChallengeHER event closest to you, please visit WIPP’s ChallengeHER site.

2016 International IP Index is out – Infinite Possibilities

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce released the 4th edition of its International Intellectual Property (IP) index on February 10th, with a promising title – Infinite Possibilities. The ​Index ​provides ​economies ​with ​a ​comprehensive ​road ​map ​to ​harnessing ​the ​benefits ​that ​robust ​IP ​systems ​provide, ​which ​create ​limitless ​possibilities ​to ​attract ​investment ​and ​fuel ​economic ​competitiveness. ​

The ​Index ​ maps ​the ​IP ​environment ​in ​38 ​economies (additional 8 added this year), ​based ​on ​30 measurable criteria indicative of ​a ​strong ​IP ​system, such as patents, copyrights and trademarks protections, enforcement, trade secrets and market access, and engagement in international treaties.

The 38 economies account for nearly 85% of global gross domestic product (GDP). The United States again scored the highest, with Venezuela, India and Thailand coming last.

The closer the score to 30 points (red to yellow color scheme), the more robust country is in the IP area (see the interactive map here).

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Many countries have shown significant improvements through investments into innovations compared to last year’s results:

  • The Indonesian government created an online notification system for rights holders to request action against alleged infringing websites.
  • In Israel, a new Index economy, 2014 reforms significantly enhanced the environment for patent protection. In particular, a patent restoration for biopharmaceuticals and regulatory data protection for submitted clinical data.
  • Malaysia’s IP environment has improved gradually over the past four years, resulting in a cumulative increase in the country’s score. As a TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) negotiating partner, the IP standards within the agreement—once ratified and implemented—will further strengthen Malaysia’s IP environment.

On the other hand, many countries have still a lot of work to do to improve their IP environment. Brazil, China, Russia, and Indonesia are undermining their overall innovation ecosystem with policies tying market access to sharing of IP and technology, and by enforcing localization. But also high-income western European countries are facing challenges, especially in copyright protection due to absence of policies to more effectively fight online piracy.

Despite United States being on the top of the overall rank, there is still room for improvements. Especially in enforcement area, where it is ranked fifth, due to trade secrets theft and counterfeit seizures.

The index is not only a summary of a findings but it also demonstrates the benefits of a strong IP environment. It includes six new correlations between strong IP rights and socio-economic benefits, and also updates statistical information for 13 of the correlations from the previous edition of the Index. The new correlations include:

  • Access to finance: More robust IP environment attracts more venture capital and private equity funding.
  • High-quality human capital: Countries with stronger IP protection have on average 2.5 more research & development focused employees among their workforce.
  • Foreign direct investment attractiveness: Economies with robust IP systems receive on average a 45% higher Standard and Poor’s credit rating.
  • Inventive activity: The top 10 economies in the Index show patenting rates more than 30 times greater than the Index’s bottom 10 economies.
  • Advanced technology markets: People and firms in economies scoring above the median level of the Index are 30% more likely to enjoy access to the most recent technological developments.
  • Streamlined and enhanced access to creative content: Advanced and easy-access delivery of streaming services is 3 times greater in economies scoring above the median level of the Index, than in those scoring below the median, while access in the top 5 economies is up to 25 times greater than in the lowest 5.

For more information download the print report here, or visit the interactive map at www.uschamber.com/IPIndex to compare the 38 economies on each of the 30 indicators.

 

SBA Office of Advocacy Report Examines the Millennial Entrepreneur

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SBAOOALast week the Small Business Administration published the first report in a series of trends in entrepreneurship by the Office of Advocacy’s Office of Economic Research, “The Missing Millennial Entrepreneurs” by Daniel Wilmoth, PhD. The report’s focus was on how Millennials reported less self-employment than prior generations. This 6-page report analyzes important trends amongst Millennial entrepreneurs, comparing them to Generation X and Baby Boomers – ultimately suggesting that entrepreneurship among Millennials will continue to be relatively low for decades.

Some other important key points highlighted in the report include:

  • In 2014, less than 2 percent of Millennials reported self- employment, compared with 7.6 percent for Generation X and 8.3 percent for Baby Boomers.
  • At age 30, less than 4 percent of Millennials reported self-employment in their primary job in the previous year, compared with 5.4 percent for Generation X and 6.7 percent for Baby Boomers.

To view the full report, click here.

Stop New Taxes on Internet Access

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internetThe Internet has revolutionized the way we communicate, learn, innovate and for business owners, it has been a game changer in their ability to manage and grow their businesses.  The Internet’s success and rapid growth is due in large part to a current law, the Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA), which has kept Internet access free from state and local taxes and fees since 1998.

We believe that Congress should act now and permanently extend the moratorium on taxing Internet access. ITFA is critical to keeping Internet access affordable for business owners and consumers, enhancing Internet adoption rates and growing the digital economy.

Finally, after much delay, it looks like the vote on a permanent version of ITFA could be as early as tomorrow! We need your help to urge your Senators support the Customs Bill and keep the Internet Tax Freedom Act in the bill. 

Urge your Senator to Support the Internet Tax Freedom Act!

With communications taxes on telephone services already on average at 17%, we don’t need the potential for another tax of close to 20% added to our Internet bills. In a time when our economy is still recovering, any money saved from the monthly bills of women-owned small businesses is much welcomed.

Tell your Senator to permanently extend ITFA today and keep Internet access free from new taxes.

Small Business Policy Index 2016

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Small Business & Entrepreneurship (SBE) Council released the 20th edition of its annual Small Business Policy Index, “Small Business Policy Index 2016: Ranking the States on Policy Measures and Costs Impacting Entrepreneurship and Small Business Growth.”

The Index ranks all 50 states according to various major government-imposed or government-related costs that have direct or indirect impact on entrepreneurship and business, as well as on start-ups and small growth eager companies.

The Index investigates in total 50 measures, from which:

  • 25 are tax related,
  • 18 relate to rules and regulations,
  • 5 focus on government spending and debt issues, and
  • 2 remaining measures deal with the effectiveness of important government undertakings.

The outcome is accessible through an interactive map displaying states’ ranking in color, with a summary per state provided after selecting a state.

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The most policy-friendly states to entrepreneurs under the “Small Business Policy Index 2016” are: 1) Nevada, 2) Texas, 3) South Dakota, 4) Wyoming, 5) Florida, 6) Washington, 7) Alabama, 8) Arizona, 9) Ohio, 10) Indiana, 11) Colorado, 12) Michigan, 13) Utah, 14) North Dakota, and 15) Virginia.

On the other side of the ranking we can find: 40) Maryland, 41) Maine, 42) Iowa, 43) Oregon, 44) Connecticut, 45) Vermont, 46) Hawaii, 47) Minnesota, 48) New York, 49) New Jersey, and 50) California.

The authors highlight several findings from the report, which are especially interesting to note:

  • Average real annual economic growth of the top 25 states’ was by 29.2 % faster than the average rate for the bottom 25 states.
  • Also, the top 25 states’ average state population growth of 4.9 percent from 2010 to 2015 was double compared to only 2.5 percent for the bottom 25 states.
  • The top 25 states also witnessed positive net domestic migration of a 2.00 million at the expense of the bottom 25 states, which lost 2.03 million people.

The SBE Council President and CEO Karen Kerrigan provides her explanation of the founded facts: “Policy matters for entrepreneurship and small business growth. Quite simply, when elected officials impose weighty tax and regulatory burdens, the increased costs and uncertainties mean reduced risk taking and less economic opportunity. The message from our ‘Small Business Policy Index’ to state officials is clear: If you are serious about helping small business, then reduce barriers to entrepreneurship and government costs imposed on small business.”

To access the Small Business Policy Index 2016 full report please click here.

Who Decides 2016? Women Do. Really.

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By Nell Merlino, Chairwoman of the Personal BlackBox Trust

You may find it surprising that women have cast the deciding votes in presidential elections for nearly four decades. What may not be surprising is that female voices rarely dominate the discussions leading up to Election Day. Women are not always given their fair share-of-voice to shape the issues that matter most to us, like equal pay, greater access to business capital, health care, and so on. Issues that secure our financial and family futures.

Twenty years ago, I invited millions of you to Take Our Daughters to Work Day in order to provide girls insight and inspiration about work opportunities. This annual event has become an important part of American history and has made girls more visible, more valued and importantly more heard. But we still need to do more.

This year, I am inviting you to help shape our future with WE Decide 2016, an online campaign to amplify our voices to get what women want and deserve in the 2016 election and beyond. I urge you to sign up at WEDecide2016.org to begin participating in this monumental movement towards greater equality.

When you join WE Decide 2016, you receive a Personal Polling Station that will enable you to:

• Participate throughout the election process with your peers
• Take quick polls and surveys on topics that impact your life and business
• Invite your female employees, vendors, family members and customers to participate
• Continually help shape key issues and how candidates respond to our collective demands during debates and town halls.

Tech Crunch reports: “The majority of candidates reserve the right to sell or trade personal data to unaffiliated third parties…Voter data is the new currency, and candidates are reaping the rewards.”

I believe that it is critical for people to voice their opinions and engage freely in political discussions without exposing themselves to being identified, analyzed and targeted without consent or knowledge. Unlike other polling sites or campaign web sites, the information you share with WE Decide 2016 will never be sold to anyone without permission or benefit to you.

Personal BlackBox Trust, the organization that created WE Decide 2016 in partnership with Women Impacting Public Policy, secures your opinions and data in a personal trust account. The platform allows you to track and view how you have responded to polls and surveys throughout the entire election year–empowering you with valuable data and insights on what you and other women find most important in the 2016 election. With privacy protected polling data, WE Decide 2016 will take our collective wants, needs and opinions directly to the candidates.

Candidates are asking you for money. We are asking you for your opinions.

Girls today need to see us go this next mile and step into our full economic power by participating more fully in the election process. Doing so creates greater possibilities of gaining access to money in order to build more female-owned businesses creating an even playing field in the business world and beyond. Because WE Decide 2016…Really.

 

WIPP Works in Washington: Primary Thoughts on the 2016 Election

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By Ann Sullivan, WIPP Government Relations

Does anyone else think the 2016 Presidential election has been going for ages?  It sure seems like that to me, but admittedly, it has been one of the most entertaining primaries in recent history.  The 24-hour news cycle has kept us up to the minute with every speech, gaff, or barb traded by the candidates. We’ve seen our fair share of debates, roundtables and town halls while watching almost daily polls track the candidates as their support rises and falls. Luckily, today is when the rubber meets the road – at least in Iowa – where Iowans will caucus for their primary candidates. As the 2016 Presidential election ramps up, so too will WIPP’s advocacy efforts. Why? Because we are not cynical about democracy and the process necessary to achieve it. We believe engagement is the mechanism by which to change the trajectory of our country’s future.

WIPP has made addressing the needs of women entrepreneurs a top priority for elected officials and our advocacy has resulted in successes for women business owners. Just look to 2015 for proof that women business owners have a seat at the table. We worked for implementation of sole source authority for the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Procurement Program– a tremendous step forward for women-owned businesses seeking to win federal contracts.  The Senate Small Business Committee passed the first reauthorization for the Women’s Business Center (WBC) program in nearly a decade, which provides important business support to women entrepreneurs. These are just two of the many policy victories for women entrepreneurs last year.

To ensure that we keep up that momentum and women entrepreneurs remain a top priority for our elected officials, WIPP has launched WE Decide 2016. This collaboration with Personal BlackBox (PBB) will engage women entrepreneurs seeking to affect the issues candidates discuss throughout the 2016 Election.  Ten million woman business owners, if active, are in a position to influence the direction of economic policy positions.  According to the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC), women-owned businesses are an economic force, contributing nearly $1.6 trillion to the annually to the US economy. The WE Decide 2016 platform seeks to engage all women business owners and associations whose members are women entrepreneurs, not just WIPP members. When women come together to share their views about the future of this country, they don’t need to be caucusing in Iowa or attending town halls in New Hampshire.  The platform will be polling women business owners on economic issues, such as access to capital, access to federal markets, tax policy and providing healthcare to employees, to mention a few topics that affect us daily.

As the primary results come in and we move on to the New Hampshire primary next week and the South Carolina primary on February 20, know that through WE Decide 2016, we have a unique opportunity to engage the voices of ten million women business owners. We certainly don’t need to agree on every issue, but I, for one, think women business owners may not necessarily possess the same views on issues that the national polls indicate.  So, lean in and let’s see the results of our engagement.  I can’t wait to see the impact all of us together can have in November.

 

 

New Platform Gives Women in Business A New Voice in the 2016 Election

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Women Impacting Public Policy and Personal BlackBox Collaborate to Launch WE Decide 2016 to Give Women in Business a New Voice in the 2016 Election

 Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) is excited to announce the launch of WE Decide 2016, a new initiative in collaboration with our partner Personal BlackBox (PBB) which aims to engage women in business in the 2016 election. WE Decide 2016 provides women with an opportunity to privately share their opinions via an array of polls, issues surveys, and discussion questions on the issues that matter most to them, their families and their businesses through our unique online platform.

With female presidential contenders from both the Democrat and Republican parties, the 2016 election is shaping up to be another historic battle in pessimism vs. optimism. According to a national online survey of women in business, three-fourths (75%) of the respondents are dissatisfied with the job that Congress is doing to address issues that are impacting women and women business owners, yet 63 percent are hopeful for the future of our country. However, nearly half (48%) of respondents feel that if a male president is elected, they will not receive the same access to economic opportunities and climate for success as they would if a female president were elected.

WE Decide 2016, in partnership with leading business organizations, aims to educate the candidates, the media and voters on the concerns of women entrepreneurs. Our goal to galvanize more than 100,000 women to take part in the WE Decide 2016 platform to voice their needs, opinions and ideas. We need your help to reach this goal!

Women in business, like you, can visit the WE Decide 2016 website – www.WEDecide2016.org – to unlock your personal polling station and confidentially take quick polls on hot topics from the campaign trail, respond to in depth issue surveys, and participate in our “Tell Us!” section to express your unique perspective on the challenges you face. Participants control their personal data and unlike other polling and survey sites, the information you share with WE Decide 2016 will never be sold to anyone. With the anonymous polling data, WE Decide 2016 will take collective wants, needs and opinions directly to the candidates to influence future policies.

WE Decide 2016 participants can also learn about breaking election news, where the candidates stand on economic issues and get advice on how women can get involved in the political process and become an advocate for the issues impacting their businesses. The WE Decide 2016 Profiles highlight the personal story behind the issues, allowing visitors to hear directly from women in business.

Don’t forget to join us on social media! You can share the results of WE Decide 2016 surveys with candidates and spread the word to your network by utilizing the hashtag #WEDecide2016. Also, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Leveraging insight, secure poll data and user comments, WE Decide 2016 will publish a Women in Business Policy Priorities report prior to the national conventions to encourage political parties and their candidates to prioritize and discuss issues of significance to women entrepreneurs. Make sure your voice is included by participating in WE Decide 2016 today and signing up to receive alerts on new polls and engagement opportunities.

Together. WE Decide 2016.  To learn more and engage in WE Decide 2016, visit wedecide2016.org.