Women-Owned Businesses Gain Increased Access to Capital Despite Current Gender Gaps
March 23 2005 - 8:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Women-Owned Businesses Gain Increased Access to Capital Despite
Current Gender Gaps New Wells Fargo/Center for Women's Business
Research Study Shows Women Business Owners Still Fall Behind Men in
Availability and Use of Capital SAN FRANCISCO, March 23
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Women business owners have made strong
progress in access to business capital, but continue to lag
significantly behind men, according to a recent study from Wells
Fargo and the Center for Women's Business Research. The study also
shows that men continue to be ahead of women in use and
availability of capital. "Overcoming the gender gap remains one of
the greatest challenges facing women business owners today," said
Joy Ott, regional president for Wells Fargo Bank in Montana and
Women's Business Services Program national spokesperson. "While
progress has been made, the support of public and private
organizations is needed to help women business owners gain
increased access to capital. We hope Wells Fargo's latest $20
billion lending goal for women business owners sends a clear and
strong message that we intend to be their financial service
provider of choice, and are 100% committed to helping them succeed
personally and financially." While use of commercial credit by
women business owners has increased, it is still lower than men
business owners', even among larger firms. Similarly, the
proportion of government-backed loans awarded to women business
owners remains much lower than the proportion awarded to men. Women
business owners are less likely than men business owners to have
many types of credit. (Photo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050323/SFW041 ) "Women
business owners' access to commercial credit increased by more than
two thirds between 1996 and 2003, from 20% of women business owners
using commercial credit in 1996 to 34% in 2003. This increase is
even more pronounced for the larger businesses owned by women. In
2003, 56% of these businesses were using commercial credit," said
Marjorie Alfus, President of Alfus Family, LP. and chair, Center
for Women's Business Research. "This progress is due to financial
institutions recognizing the market opportunity that women business
owners present and the increased financial sophistication of women
entrepreneurs." While the total number of SBA 7(a) loans for men
and women grew between 2000-2004, women-owned businesses received
significantly lower shares in both the number of loans as well as
total dollar amounts of loans. According to the report, women-owned
businesses received 22% of all 7(a) loans and only 16% total dollar
volume of SBA loans in 2004. About Wells Fargo & Company Wells
Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company
with $428 billion in assets, providing banking, insurance,
investments, mortgage and consumer finance to more than 23 million
customers from more than 6,000 stores and the internet
(wellsfargo.com) across North America and elsewhere
internationally. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. is the only bank in the
United States to receive the highest possible credit rating, "Aaa,"
from Moody's Investors Service. Providing financial products and
services to more than one million businesses with annual sales up
to $20 million in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Canada, Wells
Fargo is the #1 lender to small businesses in the United States in
total dollar volume according to the most recent CRA data (2003).
The second largest national SBA lender in dollars, Wells Fargo is
an SBA Preferred Lender in 28 states, and originated 3,555 loans
for $495 million in 2004. Wells Fargo has also been ranked the
number one SBA 504 lender nationally for the last two years. Its
targeted business services programs provide outreach and education
to women, African American, Latino, and Asian business owners about
financial services. Since 1995, Wells Fargo has loaned more than
$23 billion to women and minority business owners. Center for
Women's Business Research Center for Women's Business Research is
the premier source of knowledge about women business owners and
their enterprises worldwide. The Center's mission is to unleash the
economic potential of women entrepreneurs by conducting research,
sharing information and increasing knowledge about this
fast-growing sector of the economy. Since 1989, the Center has
generated research-based intelligence that has helped public- and
private-sector leaders, advocates, and individual women business
owners make informed strategic decisions for generating greater
business opportunities. The Center shares its knowledge of the
economic and social aspects of women's entrepreneurship with policy
makers, financial institutions, corporate leaders, government
agencies, academia, and the media through research reports, press
releases, newsletter publications, seminars, speaking engagements,
and worldwide on the Internet at
http://www.womensbusinessresearch.org/.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050323/SFW041 DATASOURCE:
Wells Fargo & Company CONTACT: Kathryn Ellis of Wells Fargo
& Company, +1-415-222-4682, or Web site:
http://www.womensbusinessresearch.org/ Web site:
http://www.wellsfargo.com/
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