[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                    REVERSING THE DECLINE IN WOMEN 
                  ENTREPRENEURSHIP: OPPORTUNITIES FOR 
                         REBUILDING THE ECONOMY

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

        SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC GROWTH, TAX, AND CAPITAL ACCESS

                                 OF THE

                      COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
                             UNITED STATES
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                              HEARING HELD
                             JUNE 15, 2021

                               __________

[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
                               

            Small Business Committee Document Number 117-018
             Available via the GPO Website: www.govinfo.gov
             
                               __________

                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
44-751                    WASHINGTON : 2021                     
          
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                   HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS

                 NYDIA VELAZQUEZ, New York, Chairwoman
                          JARED GOLDEN, Maine
                          JASON CROW, Colorado
                         SHARICE DAVIDS, Kansas
                         KWEISI MFUME, Maryland
                        DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota
                         MARIE NEWMAN, Illinois
                       CAROLYN BOURDEAUX, Georgia
                         TROY CARTER, Louisiana
                          JUDY CHU, California
                       DWIGHT EVANS, Pennsylvania
                       ANTONIO DELGADO, New York
                     CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania
                          ANDY KIM, New Jersey
                         ANGIE CRAIG, Minnesota
              BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri, Ranking Member
                         ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas
                        JIM HAGEDORN, Minnesota
                        PETE STAUBER, Minnesota
                        DAN MEUSER, Pennsylvania
                        CLAUDIA TENNEY, New York
                       ANDREW GARBARINO, New York
                         YOUNG KIM, California
                         BETH VAN DUYNE, Texas
                         BYRON DONALDS, Florida
                         MARIA SALAZAR, Florida
                      SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin

                 Melissa Jung, Majority Staff Director
            Ellen Harrington, Majority Deputy Staff Director
                     David Planning, Staff Director
                            
                            C O N T E N T S

                           OPENING STATEMENTS

                                                                   Page
Hon. Sharice Davids..............................................     1
Hon. Dan Meuser..................................................     2

                               WITNESSES

Ms. Sherry Turner, Executive Director, Kansas City Women's 
  Business Center, Fairway, KS...................................     5
Ms. Tammy Williams, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, 
  Envision2bWell, Inc., West Chester, PA.........................     7
Ms. Ayris T. Scales, Chief Executive Officer, Walker's Legacy 
  Foundation, Washington, DC.....................................     9
Ms. Natalie Buford-Young, Chief Executive Officer, Springboard 
  Enterprises, McLean, VA........................................    10

                                APPENDIX

Prepared Statements:
    Ms. Sherry Turner, Executive Director, Kansas City Women's 
      Business Center, Fairway, KS...............................    26
    Ms. Tammy Williams, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, 
      Envision2bWell, Inc., West Chester, PA.....................    36
    Ms. Ayris T. Scales, Chief Executive Officer, Walker's Legacy 
      Foundation, Washington, DC.................................    44
    Ms. Natalie Buford-Young, Chief Executive Officer, 
      Springboard Enterprises, McLean, VA........................    51
Questions and Answers for the Record:
    Questions from Hon. Van Duyne to Ms. Sherry Turner and 
      Answers from Ms. Sherry Turner.............................    54
Additional Material for the Record:
    None.

 
                    REVERSING THE DECLINE IN WOMEN 
       ENTREPRENEURSHIP: OPPORTUNITIES FOR REBUILDING THE ECONOMY

                              ----------                              


                         TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 2021

              House of Representatives,    
               Committee on Small Business,
                   Subcommittee on Economic Growth,
                                   Tax, and Capital Access,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:01 a.m., in 
Room 2360, Rayburn House Office Building and via Zoom, Hon. 
Sharice Davids [chairwoman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
    Present: Representatives Davids, Newman, Bourdeaux, Chu, 
Evans, Mr. Kim, Meuser, Garbarino, Ms. Young Kim, and Van 
Duyne.
    Chairwoman DAVIDS. Good morning. I call this hearing to 
order.
    Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a 
recess at any time.
    Let me begin by saying by saying that standing House and 
Committee rules and practice will continue to apply during 
hybrid proceedings. All Members are reminded that they are 
expected to adhere to these standing rules including decorum.
    House regulations require Members to be visible through a 
video connection throughout the proceeding, so please keep your 
cameras on. Also, please remember to remain muted until you are 
recognized to minimize background noise. If you have to 
participate in another proceeding, please exit this one and log 
back in later.
    In the event a Member encounters technical issues that 
prevent them from being recognized for their questioning, I 
will move to the next available Member of the same party and 
will recognize that Member at the next appropriate time slot 
provided that they have returned to the proceeding.
    For those Members and staff physically present in the 
Committee room today, we will continue to follow the most 
recent OAP guidance. I sincerely hope we all do our parts to 
protect each other and our staff.
    Women are at the center of the American economy. They make 
up nearly half the workforce and own an estimated 42 percent of 
all U.S. businesses. Before the pandemic, these women-owned 
businesses employed 9.4 million workers and generated $1.9 
trillion in revenue. Businesses owned by women of color were 
experiencing exponential growth. Pre-COVID, firms owned by 
women of color grew at 43 percent, one of the fastest rates 
among all groups.
    But the virus has caused a monumental setback to women's 
careers, earnings, and the progress that has been made over the 
past half century. The pandemic has been incredibly hard for 
small firms, closing more businesses in 2020 than any other 
year on record. As of May 2021, more than 37 percent of small 
businesses have closed their doors.
    Unfortunely, women-owned businesses have borne the brunt of 
this economic devastation. Throughout the pandemic, female 
entrepreneurs have been more likely to close their businesses 
and report a significant decline in the overall health of their 
companies.
    COVID also dealt a severe blow to the progress that women 
have made in the workforce. In just 2 months, from February to 
April 2020, women lost a staggering 12.2 million jobs. Overall, 
women lost their jobs at rates 24 percent higher than men. 
Today, many have yet to start working again, working with 1.8 
fewer women in the labor force than pre-pandemic. Simply put, 
the pandemic was a travesty for women small business owners and 
their female employees.
    But disproportionate challenges are nothing new for female 
entrepreneurs. There have long been numerous structural 
obstacles facing women in areas pivotal to business success. 
Women historically have a much harder time obtaining capital, 
the capital needed to start and run a business. Only about 24 
percent of small businesses' bank loans go to female 
entrepreneurs. When women do obtain loans, the average amount 
is 33 percent less than their male peers. This lack of access 
to traditional lending forces women to rely on family 
connections or self-finance their businesses.
    Female entrepreneurs also have less access to resources and 
support systems that can mean the difference between success 
and failure for an enterprise. There is a strong relationship 
between technical assistance, confidence, and a positive 
success rate for small firms. Inadequate resources for core 
support programs can hurt some women entrepreneurs who need 
technical assistance and create more hardships for those 
already struggling to gain business funding. A strong recovery 
from this crisis will depend on helping female entrepreneurs 
rebuild and getting women back in the workforce. This requires 
a deliberate investment and initiatives that drive and support 
female entrepreneurship.
    Today's hearing will allow us to examine what is working 
and what changes Congress can pursue to ensure that we are 
meeting the needs of women small business owners. It is not 
enough to re-create the pre-pandemic economy for female workers 
and business owners. We have to build back better. By 
unleashing the full potential of female entrepreneurship, we 
can create a more equitable, balanced, and prosperous economy.
    I would now like to yield to Ranking Member Mr. Meuser for 
his opening statement.
    Mr. MEUSER. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. It is a 
pleasure to be here and thanks to our witnesses. Looking 
forward your testimony.
    There is no doubt that main street America was hit hard by 
the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly women entrepreneurs. And I 
look forward to exploring solutions with you all today to 
empower women entrepreneurs in their recovery and beyond.
    In 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. women-owned 
businesses represented 42 percent of all businesses, employing 
9.4 million workers and generating $1.9 trillion in revenue. In 
fact, according to the American Express Annual State of Women-
Owned Business Report, women-owned businesses were growing two 
times faster on average prior than all businesses nationwide. 
There is a saying that goes, ``Rising tides raises all ships.'' 
And under the past administration's pro-growth policies, tax 
cuts, regulatory relief, and other pro-growth initiatives, 
business optimism soared.
    The impact COVID-19 had on entrepreneurs is impossible to 
ignore as the number of active businessowners in the United 
States decreased by 3.3 million or 22 percent from February to 
April 2020. The National Bureau of Economic Research found that 
during the crucial 2 month window, between February and April 
of last year, the number of female business owners dropped by 
5.4 million to 4 million, a decline of roughly 25 percent. Very 
significant.
    In speaking with female entrepreneurs from Pennsylvania's 
9th District, I found that they not only face the same 
challenges that all business owners are struggling with right 
now--lack of labor, fear of increased taxes, high cost of 
goods, projects delayed due to burdensome regulations, supply 
chain shortfalls and everchanging government mandates, but they 
also face unique obstacles in starting and growing their 
businesses.
    One entrepreneur in my district, Barbara Green, Barb Green, 
president of Blue Mountain Ski Resort in Carbon County, 
Pennsylvania, has been in business since the 1980s. she started 
her career as a second women at a 100-person accounting firm 
and credits her success with a couple of things. As she said, I 
worked harder, I got in earlier, and I stayed later. Today, she 
is somewhat frustrated with our education system for her 
business and throughout the area that it does not produce 
enough skilled employees and promote the idea that a college 
education is the only way to be successful. She said we need to 
focus on educating young women in skills development and 
entrepreneurship instead of only, quite often only focusing on 
how to get into college.
    Another woman entrepreneur in my district told me tax 
increase and supply chain issues uniquely impact small 
businesses much more so than large businesses in their bottom 
line stating we are not price setters; we are, in fact, price 
takers.
    Adequate access to capital and financing opportunities are 
also a challenge women entrepreneurs face. In 2019, the 
proportion of venture capital dollars that went to female 
women-owned founders of companies reached an all-time high of a 
mere 2.8 percent. during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the 
number fell to 2.3 percent. In a previous Committee hearing on 
May 19, 2021, the Association of Women Business Centers 
testified that their experience in working with many women 
entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that women 
minority-owned businesses do not hold longstanding 
relationships with traditional lending institutions. The matter 
of access to capital is a particular concern to me and I hope 
to learn from our witnesses today on how we can improve and 
address this problem.
    Additionally, Mastercard's Index of Women Entrepreneurs 
found that COVID-19 disproportionately disrupted women's lives 
to a greater extent than men due to preexisting factors--the 
jobs and sectors women tend to work in, childcare and domestic 
responsibilities. Add that to the preexisting gender disparity 
in business. That is from Mastercard, their research. Numerous 
nonprofit organizations and private companies exist to advocate 
for women entrepreneurs, provide increased networking and 
mentorship, promote awareness of financing opportunities, and 
offer general support to women as they start and grow their 
businesses.
    Additionally, the SBA's resource partners, such as women's 
business centers and SCORE offer similar assistance and 
mentorship to women entrepreneurs. There is no doubt that women 
entrepreneurs are a vital part of our economy and when they 
accelerate, so does our nation. I look forward to learning more 
about these challenges women entrepreneurs currently face and 
areas where policy can be improved to increase access to 
capital and benefit women's businesses.
    I would like to thank each of our witnesses again for 
joining us today and I yield back, Madam Chair.
    Chairwoman DAVIDS. Thank you. The gentleman yields back.
    I would like to take a moment to just kind of explain how 
the hearing is going to proceed. Each witness is going to have 
5 minutes to provide a statement, and then each Committee 
Member will have 5 minutes for questions. Please ensure that 
your microphone is on when you begin speaking and that for the 
folks on the digital platform, make sure you are muted when you 
are not speaking.
    With that, I would now like to introduce each of our 
witnesses. The Ranking Member will introduce his witness and 
then we will get into the witness testimony.
    Our first witness is Ms. Sherry Turner, the executive 
director of the Kansas City Women's Business Center located in 
the 3rd District in Kansas that I get to represent. WBCs help 
to counsel and mentor women in all stages of business 
development and growth. Through the Women's Employment Network, 
the Women's Capital Connection and Micro Lending Programs, Ms. 
Turner works tirelessly to help educate, build networks, and 
support women entrepreneurs. On behalf of the people of the 3rd 
District and the State of Kansas, I would like to thank you for 
your work and for being here today to testify before the 
Committee.
    Our second witness today is Ms. Tammy Williams, the founder 
and CEO of Envision2bwell. Ms. Williams is a business thought 
leader and problem solver who started her company with the 
belief that everyone deserves an equal shot at a healthy, 
joyful life. She is also engaged in supporting women's 
entrepreneurship through the Ellevate Network and Vision 2020. 
Thank you for being here today, Ms. Williams.
    And then our third witness is Ms. Ayris Scales, the CEO of 
Walker's Legacy Foundation, a global platform for professional 
and entrepreneurial multicultural women. Ms. Scales is a 
champion of women entrepreneurs and underinvested communities 
in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. She has 
nearly 20 years of leadership experience at both the local and 
national levels, adjusting racial and gender inequities. 
Welcome, Ms. Scales.
    And then the Ranking Member, Mr. Meuser, will now introduce 
our fourth witness.
    Mr. MEUSER. Thank you again, Chairwoman.
    Our next witness is Natalie Buford-Young. Ms. Buford-Young 
is the chief executive officer of Springboard Enterprises in 
McLean, Virginia, and is responsible for leading Springboard's 
mission to accelerate the growth of women-led entrepreneurial 
companies through access to essential resources and a global 
community of experts. With 20 years of experience connecting 
women entrepreneurs with human, social, and financial capital, 
Springboard Enterprises is the leading network of influencers, 
investors, and innovators dedicated to building high growth 
companies led by women. Notably, Springboard alumni include the 
investors of Zipcar, iRobot, Minute Clinic, Canva, and 
Everlywell, whose at-home COVID-19 test received the first FDA 
emergency use authorization of its kind. Ms. Buford-Young is an 
accomplished and innovative entrepreneur, community builder, 
and corporate executive. Prior to Springboard, she served as 
managing director of Market Development for Deloitte's Venture 
Capital, Private Equity, and Emergency Private Company 
Practice. Welcome, and I yield back. Thank you.
    Chairwoman DAVIDS. Thank you. The gentleman yields back.
    And thank you again to all of our witnesses for being here 
today.
    Ms. Turner, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.

 STATEMENTS OF SHERRY TURNER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, KANSAS CITY 
  WOMEN'S BUSINESS CENTER; TAMMY WILLIAMS, FOUNDER AND CHIEF 
EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ENVISION2BWELL, INC.; AYRIS T. SCALES, CHIEF 
 EXECUTIVE OFFICER, WALKER'S LEGACY FOUNDATION; NATALIE BUFORD-
    YOUNG, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SPRINGBOARD ENTERPRISES

                   STATEMENT OF SHERRY TURNER

    Ms. TURNER. Thank you, Chairwoman Davids, Ranking Member 
Meuser, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee for this 
opportunity to provide testimony on women's entrepreneurship. 
My name is Sherry Turner. I am executive director of the Kansas 
City Women's Business Center. It is my honor to highlight the 
incredible resilience of entrepreneurs that contribute to our 
U.S. economy in a very profound way.
    Our national network of 135 Women's Business Centers (WBCs) 
demonstrates a commitment to urban and rural markets serving 
economically and socially disadvantaged clients in as many as 
38 languages.
    Our WBC network is also fortunate to have the association 
of Women's Business Centers to support and advocate for women's 
entrepreneurship.
    On May 19th, Corinne Hodges, CEO of the association, 
provided testimony to the Small Business Subcommittee on 
Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Workforce Development.
    She testified regarding the increased demand for services 
at the WBCs across the nation. During the past year, our WBC 
had to become very entrepreneurial as an organization and we 
were thrust into virtual services delivery overnight with 133 
percent increase in client activity.
    The funding through the CARES Act grant enabled us to 
increase our capacity to assist this influx in clients. The 
primary service has been to assist our clients in navigating 
the federal and local emergency relief funding programs and 
completing applications. Many of our clients are self-employed 
within underserved markets and do not have a solid 
understanding of their business financial statements that 
sometimes hinder their ability to even apply for the funding 
that is available to them.
    This pandemic also brings to light the longstanding issues 
surrounding childcare. In Q1 of this year, 61 percent of women 
business owners with children at home reported that school 
closures had impacted their business and 30 percent of such 
owners reported scaling back due to childcare needs. Many 
childcare businesses have failed this past year and our role as 
a WBC can help this sector to rebound.
    Lessons that we have learned during COVID. Our CARES Act 
are being deployed exactly as the statute intended. Pivoting to 
a digital delivery was paramount to our success and we must 
remain doing so as a method of delivery. Our digital marketing 
expertise is critical for clients to find us. The technology 
and staff must remain up to date to remain effective.
    We are also supportive of a coalition of economic 
development organization focused on bolstering entrepreneurship 
across the country. Launched by the Kansas City based Ewing 
Marion Kauffman Foundation, Start Us Up is a collective effort 
in creating a business plan that provides very specific 
recommendations at the federal, state, and local levels to 
reduce barriers for entrepreneurs to succeed. The Kauffman 
Foundation also released a report on what new entrepreneurs 
look like. In 2020 alone, 4 in 10 new entrepreneurs were women, 
1 in 5 were Latino, and more than 1 in 4 were foreign born.
    A recent survey exploring women starting businesses during 
COVID-19 revealed that minority women have been leading new 
business starts, largely out of need. Nearly half are minority 
owned, and these women were more than twice as likely to start 
a new business because of financial need.
    Since 1996, new entrepreneurs within Asian, Black, and 
Latino communities have steadily increased and foreign born new 
entrepreneurs have more than doubled. Strategies to bolster 
entrepreneurship in a post-COVID economy must take into account 
that new entrepreneurs are diverse and likely to span any age, 
gender, and breadth of experience.
    We ask this Committee and the current Congress to support 
these strategies among the women's entrepreneurial community. 
Fully fund the WBC program with $30 million in core funding. 
Provide an additional $48 million COVID-related appropriation. 
And waive the match requirement until fiscal year 2023. Support 
modernization and accreditation of the WBC program to level the 
playing field. Reauthorization of the program through 
legislation like H.R. 4405 introduced by Representative Davids 
to the 116th Congress would support the efforts of 135 WBCs. 
Ensure WBCs are partners of choice for engaging women business 
owners in any future jobs and infrastructure packages. Support 
work-family friendly policies with emphasis on access to 
affordable childcare. And prioritize funding for community 
development financial institutions that are providing loans for 
small businesses in traditionally underserved communities.
    We have a significant opportunity in front of us in 
elevating the role entrepreneurship has on our future economy 
and the role women play in our success as a nation. Women 
Business Centers are grateful for your support. Thank you for 
your time today. It has been a privilege to address the 
Committee. I look forward to your questions.
    Chairwoman DAVIDS. Thank you, Ms. Turner.
    The Chair will now recognize Ms. Williams for 5 minutes.

                  STATEMENT OF TAMMY WILLIAMS

    Ms. WILLIAMS. Chair Davids, Ranking Member Meuser, and 
Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to 
testify today. My name is Tammy Williams, and?I am the 
president and founder of Envision2bWell Inc., a firm that 
reimagines wellness with our unified digital health and 
wellness platform. I founded the company in 2019 and we are 
based in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
    I am before you today as a woman entrepreneur who happens 
to be a Black woman in technology and a baby boomer, with a 
solution to a problem that has plagued many: an easier way to 
be healthy and happier. I started my company for two main 
reasons. First, I was let go from a job I loved, and second, 
because I knew there was a gap that needed to be filled for 
people to be sustainably healthier.
    Our platform, EnvisionWell brings knowledge to life in one 
centralized location to empower and enable healthier outcomes. 
Everything that we do begins with our proprietary Knowledge 
Support Access and Autonomy, known as KSAA engagement model 
that keeps social determinants of health in mind with a focus 
on our 10 Pillars of Well-Being.
    We were a little ahead of our time. Focusing on social 
determinants of health is now widely accepted as a key to 
understanding health, especially in low-income and minority 
populations.
    If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that the 
scope of workplace wellness initiatives has not taken social 
determinants of health, nor employees' individual social or 
mental needs into account.
    Capital is the lifeline of business. The ability to secure 
capital determines an entrepreneur's opportunity to start or 
grow. Envision2bWell was mostly self-funded before we got our 
first institutional investor than Franklin Technology Partners 
of Southeastern Pennsylvania. They provided investment in my 
company through their program that meets matching capital for 
investment in early stage ventures. The program has helped 
thousands of companies accelerate their growth in Pennsylvania.
    There are nearly 10 million women-owned businesses in the 
United States, generating $1.6 trillion in receipts and 
employing nearly 9 million Americans. However, the statistics 
remain shocking. Women receive on 4 percent of all commercial 
loan dollars and fewer than 1 in 3 loan applications for women-
owned firms were approved.
    Women also ask for less funding. On average, it is about 
$35,000 less than men.
    Recent legislative efforts to improve women-owned 
businesses' access to capital are promising and I urge the 
Committee to move the following legislation forward.
    1. The Women and Minority Investment Act introduced in the 
116th Congress made a necessary change that will allow a women-
owned or minority-owned firm to obtain equity or venture 
capital funding without losing its status to participate in the 
SBA federal contracting programs. The equity or venture funding 
would have to come from a firm whose majority owners were women 
or minorities.
    2. Congress should consider expanding the SBA's Small 
Business Investment Company, the SBIC program. There are best 
practices in the private sector that the SBA should consider 
adopting. For example, I recently participated in a pitch 
competition where five companies presented to a panel of three 
experienced investors. This was great experience for me to be 
able to speak to investors in a forum that exposes investors to 
new, innovative businesses. SBA should sponsor pitch sessions 
for small businesses that belong in their network to provide 
targeted investment introductions to SBIC. Additionally, I want 
to applaud the Committee's work on improving this program. I 
recommend that any legislative promotions include an emerging 
fund manager's program, as well as incentives for making equity 
investments in women, minority, and underserved businesses.
    3. Revitalize the Interagency Committee on Women's Business 
Enterprise to facilitate intergovernmental cooperation with 
respect to resources for women in business.
    And finally, in light of the pandemic, there is also a 
renewed focus on ensuring small businesses have ample 
opportunities to win federal contracts. Increasing and 
harmonizing requirements for awarding sole source contracts 
would provide companies like Envision2bWell the ability to 
market and secure federal contracts. In 2020, when the pandemic 
hit, I did not know if my business would be able to stay 
afloat. The few people at that time I was forced to lay off. 
The Paycheck Protection Program became a lifeline but 
navigating the process proved to be challenging. Let me just 
say, it was not the large bank where I had my account that came 
to my aid. It was a small bank who assisted us. Without PPP 
loans, my business would have failed and I know that this 
Committee and its Senate counterpart are responsible for 
putting this program together. Please accept my gratitude for 
all the work that went into standing up the PPP program.
    As the title of this hearing suggests, we need to reverse 
the decline in women's entrepreneurship. And in closing, I urge 
the Subcommittee to proactively take steps to break down 
barriers with respect to access and support for women 
entrepreneurs. Together, we can eliminate obstacles that 
prevent women from accessing critical capital to succeed in 
business.
    Thank you for giving me this opportunity to testify before 
you today and I look forward to answering any questions.
    Chairwoman DAVIDS. Thank you, Ms. Williams.
    Ms. Scales, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.

                  STATEMENT OF AYRIS T. SCALES

    Ms. SCALES. Thank you so much.
    Greetings Madam Chair and Members of the Subcommittee on 
Economic Growth, Tax, and Capital Access. My name is Ayris 
Scales and I have the great pleasure of serving as the CEO of 
Walker's Legacy Foundation and the Managing Director of 
Walker's Legacy LLC. We are serving women entrepreneurs in more 
than 20 markets across the country.
    I want you to journey with me for a second. It is 4:00 a.m. 
and a woman climbs out of bed. She has one eye open. Two feet 
moving towards the responsibilities of the day. She wakes her 
children. She makes breakfast. She starts laundry. She sets out 
clothes, keeping in mind that there is one child who has soccer 
practice and another who has a field trip at the same time. She 
then allows her brain to shift gears to business. Where is the 
shipment? Is the inventory ready? Will I have enough money to 
make payroll? Will I be able to pay my vendors?
    Walker's Legacy understands this woman, and like you, is 
here to support this woman. Our fundamental values, 
inspiration, and strategic approach is shaped and driven by the 
philanthropic spirit and unprecedented entrepreneurial 
achievements of Madam C.J. Walker, this country's first self-
made female entrepreneur.
    Our whole purpose is to unleash the next generation of 
self-made women and to improve the livelihood and economic 
prosperity of women and girls. We believe that we achieve this 
through entrepreneurship, financial literacy and professional 
development. We amplify that women are the backbones of our 
families and our homes and that women-led enterprises and small 
businesses collectively are the backbone of our communities and 
that in turn makes them the backbone and true engine of our 
economy.
    With nearly 50 percent of all Americans working for a small 
business, we know that now is not the time to cease investing 
in their speedy recovery. According to the American Progress, 
African American and Hispanic female-owned businesses are the 
fastest growing entrepreneurial segment in this country. They 
are growing at a rate of six times faster than White firms at 
nearly 300 percent. And with more women being pushed out or 
deciding to opt out of the workforce, entrepreneurial endeavors 
are becoming their alternative. Over 2 million women left the 
labor force during COVID and the unemployment rate for Black 
and Latino women remains persistently high. We also know 
through our recent COVID-19 Impact Study that 80 percent of the 
female respondents shared that they are fearful their doors 
will be closed by the end of the year.
    These are astonishing numbers but they are not beyond 
repair. Supporting wealth creation for low to moderate income 
Black and Latin women, female founders, and entrepreneurs is 
fundamental to reversing the decline and building back stronger 
via a system that is not just focused on rebounding but focused 
on true and equitable recovery. Building a more equitable and 
inclusive country requires all hands. It is a multi-sector 
approach. It is a bipartisan approach. This moment and the 
momentum that is finally being focused on investing resources, 
infrastructure, and new policies to support and advance small 
businesses cannot come at a more poignant time. This country is 
and always has been built on the bold vision, innovation, and 
hustle of everyday citizens who sought new and better and 
different ways to create wealth but also to create opportunity. 
Empowering women through entrepreneurship and entities who 
support that ecosystem is a surefire strategy to closing 
social, economic, racial, and gender inequalities.
    However, minority women-owned firms continue to struggle 
with growth regardless of their income status, their capital, 
and hiring needed to scale and expand. The barriers for women 
to maintaining and start successful businesses include as 
highlighted earlier a lack of startup capital, access to formal 
business training, gender discrimination, little to limited 
access to strong and diverse networks and mentors, and 
difficulty in obtaining government and private contracts. We 
are now seeing new challenges and barriers that are taxing 
small businesses as they try to navigate this landscape of 
uncertainty. They are sharing with us that they have concerns 
around employee reintegration and retention, pivoting and 
maintaining technology into the service delivery, 
discriminatory evaluation criteria to access capital and 
business insurance, and most recently, emerging mental health 
issues and concerns.
    These are further reiterating the need for ongoing federal 
funding but also that of a multisector approach with private 
sector partners. Federal support via PPP loans, loan 
forgiveness, childcare assistance, and unemployment insurance 
were critical lifelines to women-led businesses and the small 
business ecosystem in general.
    In closing, for more than a decade, Walker's Legacy has 
been pivoting and providing critical support for these women. 
We have an industry agnostic business accelerator and we are 
absolutely committed and poised to be a partner as we look at 
long-term sustainability solutions to ensure, in fact, that 
women and small businesses are at the forefront of our recovery 
efforts today and tomorrow.
    This concludes my statement. Thank you again for the 
opportunity to share about Walker's Legacy and future legacy 
makers.
    Chairwoman DAVIDS. Thank you, Ms. Scales.
    And Ms. Buford-Young, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.

               STATEMENT OF NATALIE BUFORD-YOUNG

    Ms. BUFORD-YOUNG. Good morning. I am Natalie Buford-Young. 
I am the CEO of Springboard. Thank you, Chairwoman Davids, 
Ranking Member Meuser, and the Committee for having me today.
    Springboard Enterprises is a 21-year-old not-for-profit 
committed to propelling women entrepreneurs forward. We serve 
as a growth accelerator for women entrepreneurs who are 
building innovative companies at scale. The value that 
Springboard Enterprises brings to the market has been validated 
by our strong 21-year track record of success with more than 
835 companies coming through our program resulting in more than 
$27 billion of value created. Approximately 90 percent of our 
portfolio companies receive funding and we have had more than 
200 exits or M&A events and 22 IPOs. And despite all of 
Springboard's success, women founders are still only receiving 
a small fraction of venture capital funding.
    In 2019, women founders received a paltry 2.8 percent of 
venture capital funding, and in 2020, it dipped even lower to 
2.3 percent of venture capital funding going to women founders. 
And studies are really pointing to two contributing factors for 
the decline. Women were disproportionately impacted by COVID, 
as they often serve as the primary caregivers for their 
families and found themselves faced with the choice of focusing 
on the care of their families or building their companies. And 
some opted to put their company growth on hold or postpone 
their capital raise.
    The second is investors, faced with market uncertainty, 
reverted back to their more ``comfortable'' networks and were 
less willing to take a ``risk'' on unknown entities, including 
women founders. Ironically, studies show that companies with a 
woman founder performed 63 percent better than investments in 
all-male founding teams, and businesses founded by women 
deliver twice as much per dollar invested than those founded by 
men.
    In contrary to the overall market, in the time that most 
women-founded companies were taking a hit from 2019 to 2020, 
Springboard was doubling down and our Springboard companies saw 
an increase. In 2019, Springboard companies raised $1.06 
billion in funding, and in 2020, despite the pandemic, our 
Springboard companies raised $1.31 billion in funding.
    Springboard is the first organization of its type focused 
on women entrepreneurs and has been instrumental in the success 
of our entrepreneurs, including those who built top companies 
such as Zipcar, iRobot, Minute Clinic, Constant Contact, 
Everlywell and many others. While there are many accelerators 
and start-up organizations that focus on companies at the 
ideation stage, Springboard programs serve women entrepreneurs 
that are at the critical stage of scaling their companies. Our 
companies have typically raised their seed or angel funding and 
are approaching series A or have raised their series A.
    Springboard impacts the success of our women entrepreneurs 
through our expert network and our signature programs. Unlike 
most accelerators, we are focused on assessing the stage and 
skill sets of our entrepreneurs and then helping them fill 
those gaps using our network of 5,000 advisors.
    And here is how it works. Women entrepreneurs apply, are 
evaluated, and then selected to join one of our various 
cohorts. Once a woman is selected to be a part of one of the 
Springboard cohorts, we assess the needs of the founder and the 
company. Then, we match them with a custom set of advisors from 
our network of more than 5,000 subject matter experts.
    Another one of our signature programs is Dolphin Tank. And 
like the show Shark Tank, select companies present their quick 
pitch to a live audience. In the case of Dolphin Tank, our live 
audience is comprised of advisors and investors who offer their 
feedback and connections.
    Our collective community, which includes all of you, needs 
to ban together to support the next generation of women 
entrepreneurs building their companies at scale. Here are a few 
of the ways that you can support the women entrepreneurs:
    You can provide incentives for all types of investors to be 
motivated to invest in women-founded companies.
    And you can create direct grant programs that support mid 
to later stage women-led start-ups where there is a large 
funding gap.
    Springboard and other similar not-for-profits and 
accelerators have accomplished so much with the support of the 
private sector primarily through corporate sponsorships, 
corporate philanthropic donations, as well as individual donor 
contributions. Despite their contributions, we still need 
additional support to allow us to serve more women 
entrepreneurs. As corporations have cut back on sponsorship and 
philanthropic budgets during the pandemic, it has impacted our 
fundraising efforts to support our mission of advancing women 
entrepreneurs. While direct support of women entrepreneurs is 
key, support of organizations like Springboard is crucial to 
provide women entrepreneurs with the educational and hands-on 
support they need to build their companies to scale.
    Here is how you can support Springboard and our mission:
    Provide meaningful governmental incentives for corporations 
and other donors to give to non-profits that support women 
entrepreneurs. And second, establish governmental grant 
programs that directly support women entrepreneurs while 
establishing key metrics on their outcomes. We would love for 
you to see us in action and join us for one of our Dolphin 
Tanks, which you can attend virtually.
    Thank you to the Committee for this opportunity, and I look 
forward to your questions.
    Chairwoman DAVIDS. Thank you. And thank you again to all of 
our witnesses for being here today and for the work you are 
doing in supporting women entrepreneurs.
    So I will begin by recognizing myself for 5 minutes. Thank 
you to our witnesses for joining us again today.
    First, I would like to start with Ms. Turner, the executive 
director of the Kansas City Women's Business Center. The center 
is located in Fairway, Kansas, which is in the 3rd District and 
has been a central lifeline for so many women, small business 
owners during this pandemic. I know in 2019, the Kansas City 
Women's Business Center served over 800 businesses across the 
Greater Kansas City area and the entire state of Kansas which 
is an enormous geographic region and a lot for a staff of four.
    Ms. Turner, I am curious if you could share with us how the 
WBC, the Kansas City WBC was able to adapt during the pandemic 
to serve so many businesses in the middle of a crisis.
    Ms. TURNER. Thank you for the question.
    Certainly, the CARES Act was our lifeline as an 
organization to be able to increase our capacity. The way in 
which we did that was obviously a digital virtual deliverable 
immediately. We did that through being able to contract with 
local women-owned businesses that were subject matter experts 
on a variety of topics that were essentially really for 
companies during COVID. You know, how to navigate communication 
with employees. How to navigate cashflow, supply chain 
management, social medial. Whatever it took we had about 74 
different business topics that we converted to our YouTube 
channel which allowed a broader audience not only across the 
state of Kansas but obviously available to anyone. We had about 
35 different states that had plugged into some of our content.
    The other thing that we found interesting is in the fall we 
had an uptick of calls related to startups. And this is true of 
a down economy. So we were able to convert our in-person 8-week 
startup course to a virtual course and will continue to do that 
probably long term. We also made sure that our Women's Capital 
Connection, which is our angel investor network, which meets 
monthly with 45 women angel investors investing in women-led 
companies was able to see companies virtually and continue to 
work with companies that were interested in that kind of equity 
funding.
    We also, with some of the CARES Act dollars through one of 
our largest counties in Kansas was able to put $13.5 million of 
grant money towards businesses that were less than 50 
employees. And so all of these things were really the lifeblood 
for us as an organization but certainly could not have done it 
without the CARES Act grant we received.
    Chairwoman DAVIDS. That is really helpful.
    I want to touch on a couple of things and hopefully I will 
have time here. First, you know, last Congress, and you 
mentioned this, Ms. Turner, in the testimony that you gave, I 
introduced the Women's Business Center Improvement Act which 
would reauthorize the WBC program, increase the funding level, 
and increase the cap on individual center grants. This 
Committee and the Full House passed that bill in 2019 with 
broad bipartisan support. And I know our WBCs are undoubtedly a 
critical resource partner for our female entrepreneurs. And one 
of the greatest challenges that our female entrepreneurs face 
is access to capital.
    I am curious, Ms. Turner, are there specific reforms that 
were included in that bill that you see as better serving the 
women entrepreneurs and small business owners that we have been 
talking about today?
    Ms. TURNER. Yes. Particularly, the increase in funding. 
Currently, the grant we receive through the Office of Women's 
Business Ownership is about 25 percent of our budget. And 
again, we are a small WBC. This would potentially double that 
which would really allow for more service. I think 
modernization is the key to some of that legislation which is, 
you know, we have had to step up our game. Stepping up our game 
does not mean that our clients do not have challenges over the 
next couple of years if they are able to remain in business. 
The free counseling and training that we provide requires a 
capacity building. The largest piece of that would be the 
marketing and digital medial consultant we were able to hire 
during the COVID situation and that will be paramount to what 
we look like in the future to ensure that our clients are able 
to find us as a resource.
    Chairwoman DAVIDS. Thank you. And my time has now expired.
    And the Chair will recognize the Ranking Member, Mr. Meuser 
for 5 minutes.
    Mr. MEUSER. Thank you, Chairwoman Davids. And again, thanks 
to the witnesses for being here.
    So Ms. Buford-Young, I shall start my questioning with you.
    In your experiences and interaction with women 
entrepreneurs, what is the top legislative priority you could 
define for us that would benefit and help women entrepreneurs 
and women-owned small businesses?
    Ms. BUFORD-YOUNG. I will not pretend to understand all of 
the mechanics of the government but I do know the needs of what 
women entrepreneurs are seeking and I know that there are a 
number of programs that are really out there to help very 
nascent stage, early stage companies as they are forming. And 
what we are finding is once women get over that hurdle there is 
a huge gap in the ability to get funding for companies that are 
ready to scale which is why we focus here and, you know, we 
have really relied on the private sector to fill that gap. So I 
do not know the mechanics behind it but I do know that that is 
the need, is to continue the support for women entrepreneurs 
considering that venture capital should be the source but we 
are only receiving currently 2.3 percent of funding.
    Mr. MEUSER. Okay. You spoke about the idea of incentives 
for access to capital and there is this seeming focus on 
venture capital that I am somewhat curious about. Banks right 
now have high reserves and lines of credit are clearly 
available in those traditional means of gaining access to 
capital for businesses. So maybe we can explore that 
afterwards.
    But what is the type of incentive? So from a real world 
perspective, forget about the idea of crafting legislation, 
from a real world perspective, what would you define or offer 
as a type of incentive that would help create more investment 
in women-owned small businesses or small businesses in general?
    Ms. BUFORD-YOUNG. I think when we are looking at the large 
venture capital firms or looking at investors of any size, to 
my knowledge there is not a specific incentive or motivational 
factor from a tax perspective or any other perspective for them 
to increase their investment in women entrepreneurs. So aside 
from knowing the mechanics of how to do it there has to be 
something that forces or encourages investors and the private 
sector to increase their investment for the entrepreneurs.
    Mr. MEUSER. Thank you.
    Taxes are a point of discussion. They always seem to be but 
they are moving forward. There was close to a 20 percent 
reduction for small business in the last Jobs and Tax Act. 
There is talk now of raising capital gains taxes. How would, 
and briefly perhaps, how would raising capital gains taxes 
affect you, affect the type of incentive to extend venture 
capital loans or make investments?
    Ms. BUFORD-YOUNG. I do not know the answer to that. I am 
not a tax specialist. So I wish I had more.
    Mr. MEUSER. Okay. Fair enough.
    So Ms. Williams, I would like to turn to you, West Chester, 
fellow Pennsylvanians. West Chester is not too far outside my 
district so I am glad you made the trip down.
    Ms. WILLIAMS. Thank you.
    MEUSER. You talked about a bill, a Women Minority Act for 
venture capital funds would not cause you to lose SBA. I 
understand Marco Rubio, Senator Rubio sponsored such a bill 
last Congress. So I can assure you that would be something that 
I will take a look at.
    What else could you tell us about your business, some of 
your experiences, and what, sitting in my seat, sitting here, 
what could we do on a federal level, but perhaps even offer on 
a state level? What could Pennsylvania do for you? What can 
this Committee help you with?
    Ms. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Mr. Meuser.
    I believe that one of the things, first and foremost, is 
access. At Envision2bWell, we call this KSAA, Knowledge, 
Support, Access, and Autonomy for living a sustainably 
healthier life. But the same applies to any entrepreneur. It is 
the Knowledge, Support, Access, and Autonomy to start and grow 
your business. You cannot scale your business without money. 
Typically, you cannot get money without introductions. So it is 
built upon relationships. So those two really intersect. 
Without it, you are pretty much stuck where you are.
    More mentoring. You know, I know that SCORE and the WBDCs, 
you know, those organizations have mentoring programs but I 
believe that a program that would be a step above, say 101, 
would be great for those small businesses that they are 
thriving, they are ready to scale, and they need to go beyond 
what it takes to just start the business. So have those 
introductions, being able to pitch, doing all of those things 
makes a difference. And I can tell you that from my experience, 
in starting a business that had to be self-funded to the tune 
of hundreds of thousands of dollars before we got our first 
institutional investor, it is a tough thing and not many 
businesses, whether they are minority or women can do that. And 
so just more access. Thank you.
    Mr. MEUSER. Madam Chair, we are over my time. I can see why 
you are successful and are such an asset to those that you work 
with. So I yield back. Thank you.
    Chairwoman DAVIDS. Thank you. The gentleman yields back.
    And next the Chair will recognize Rep. Newman for 5 
minutes.
    Ms. NEWMAN. Good morning, everyone. And thank you, Chair 
and Ranking Member. I appreciate it.
    And congratulations to all the marvelous entrepreneurs on 
our dais today. I appreciate all the things you have done to 
get us through the pandemic. Small business got us through. So 
bravo.
    So a couple things. Just to give you some good news, 
obviously, if you read any of the data or the tax propositions 
and proposals from the Biden administration, small business 
will not be affected. Large businesses will pay their fair 
share to assure you of that. And just to answer some questions 
that were raised a little bit earlier. There are several 
studies about capital gains and they are not tethered to the 
success or lack of success to small businesses. So more good 
news.
    So I have a question. So recently, we found out that the 
RRF Fund, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund is in great 
jeopardy because it is being sued by a conservative Republican 
group. And as we all know, those 3,000 folks that applied and 
were approved for this, it is primarily veterans, women, and 
economically disadvantaged. So that is scary stuff. As a result 
of that, and all the reasons you cited today, I am just going 
to ask a couple of you to share what you think are the top 
priorities for Congress to do given that jeopardy and then just 
the state of affairs in our economy anyway, even though we are 
coming out of things.
    So I am going to start with Ms. Williams if you would not 
mind. Your top priorities.
    Ms. WILLIAMS. Thank you.
    Again, I think that my top priority really comes down to, 
and I cannot say this enough, it is access. Access, 
relationships. That is going to lead to capital.
    Women have unique experiences. They have unique ideas, like 
mine, that I was able to bring to life. But you still need 
access to capital. So taking away anything that is going to at 
least open those doors is a problem. It needs to be accessible. 
The whole ecosystem. It is not just one thing. It is capital, 
suppliers, vendors, distributors. Even our politicians and 
representatives, all of you. You have a major impact on this. 
And so again, the PPP was a lifeline for us. And without it I 
would not be here talking to you or maybe in a different 
setting. So I would say that that would be, for me, the biggest 
priorities.
    Ms. NEWMAN. Thank you for your counsel.
    I am going to go to Ms. Scales. If you might share your top 
priority given all of the factors that I shared in my comments.
    Ms. SCALES. Absolutely. I agree with all of the other 
witnesses. But one of the things when I think about access to 
capital, and I know that comes up a lot, you know, I kind of 
pushed the needle a little bit where I say there is capital 
that exists that is available. Where we could use additional 
support is how we look at those barriers to accessing that 
capital. Right? And those barriers come from things such as the 
evaluation criteria that financial institutions have that they 
apply for nonminority or women-led organizations or entities on 
to women-led or minority-led businesses. So one, just kind of 
looking at what those barriers are. How to get financial 
institutions and venture capitalists to feel more comfortable 
with taking risk when really they should not see us as at risk 
because we are performing and outperforming and sustaining in 
ways that others are not with very limited resources.
    The other thing that I would really recommend or challenge 
is how we continue to absolutely invest in small businesses but 
supporting those of us who are part of that ecosystem who is 
investing and supporting them. We, too, need to have access to 
capital and access to resources and support so that we can 
continue with technical assistance that is responsive, that is 
adaptive.
    And the last that I would say is what role do we play in 
ensuring that the integration of technology is really at the 
forefront of how we are conducting and doing business. 
Traditionally, women of color, entrepreneurs, small businesses 
have had challenges with accessing technology, integrating 
technology, and what we know now due to some of these 
behavioral changes, consumer changes with COVID is that 
business will no longer look the same as it has and that we 
have had to pivot more quickly with that integration of 
technology. So what funding resources and programs can further 
do that. And then I am always going to support mentoring and 
expanding networks and that is part of what we do at Walker's 
Legacy.
    Ms. NEWMAN. Well, thank you for your comments. And I agree. 
I was in that position where I had to pitch my business to VC&P 
companies and there are two comments that I always make. One is 
that they always saw me as a risk, too. And then secondly, I 
never saw a person of color or women on any dais out of 50 of 
them. Maybe one. And so we have to make sure we are 
incentivizing people that have lived experiences that sit in 
these companies and make these financial decisions. So that is 
one of my passion areas.
    Thank you very much, and thank you all for your great 
comments today.
    Chairwoman DAVIDS. Thank you, Ms. Newman.
    And the Chair will now recognize Rep. Van Duyne for 5 
minutes.
    Ms. VAN DUYNE. Thank you very much, Chairwoman Davids and 
Ranking Member Meuser for holding this hearing today.
    Before the COVID-19 pandemic, women entrepreneurs as 
Congressman Meuser had mentioned, were making great strides. In 
fact, from 2014 to 2019, women-owned businesses increased 
revenues, they hired more employees, and they grew at a faster 
rate than businesses at large. As a former small business owner 
and entrepreneur myself, I can tell you that women 
entrepreneurs face the same hurdles that every entrepreneur 
faces. And at the end of the day, one key measures success in 
business is the same: does your company bring in more money 
than it loses? Something the federal government still fails to 
understand.
    We cannot sit here and talk about challenges that women 
entrepreneurs face honestly without mentioning this 
administration's harmful anti-growth policies. No matter your 
gender, race, or background, increased taxes, skyrocketing 
inflation, labor shortages, and federally mandated minimum wage 
hikes will kill any hope that an entrepreneur has of creating a 
successful business.
    To highlight the effect these policies are having, just 
this past week I held a local restaurant owners' roundtable to 
discuss the recovery and I cannot make this up. We literally 
had a number of folk who could not come to the roundtable 
because they could not find people to cover their shifts 
because they cannot compete with the federal government paying 
people to stay at home.
    These problems are not going away any time soon, and after 
seeing the harmful effect of long-term shutdowns and enhanced 
unemployment benefits, one thing should be crystal clear. One 
of the best ways to help female entrepreneurs is by not hurting 
them. The uncomfortable truth here is that no matter how much 
rhetoric you use touting more equitable entrepreneurship, fancy 
words will never make up for disastrous economic policies. If 
you want to help small business owners, the equation is simple: 
ease tax burdens, lower barriers of entry, and do not make 
small businesses compete with never-ending federal unemployment 
benefits.
    And with that said, I really appreciate all of you coming 
today. I appreciate your comments.
    And for Ms. Williams, you made a really good point. You 
said that one thing that women are looking for right now, 
business owners are looking for right now is access to capital, 
is to have money. You made a great point about that, needing 
money. But with the policies that you see coming down the pike 
right now from this administration, including the increased 
capital gains cost, increased corporate tax rate, the rising 
inflation, rising cost of things like gas, food, utilities, 
paper products, you name it, how is those policies, if women-
owned businesses are seriously in need right now of capital, 
how is it helping them by having more of that capital that they 
make going back to the federal government and going back into 
increased costs?
    Ms. WILLIAMS. Thank you very much for asking that great 
question. I have been one that has always said if I was paying 
taxes it meant that I was making money. But, you know, there 
comes a point where you do need to hold on to more of that 
money. I can give you something from my experience.
    So as a small business, and many of us face this, we are 
competing with those large businesses for great talent. Those 
large businesses have perks. They have healthcare and benefits. 
And as a result, we are a tech company and we are about being 
well. So I had to make a decision: do we add benefits to our 
cost to attract talent? And I can tell you that not one person 
that is on my team is paid at market value. Not one. And they 
all have access to and are being delivered benefits. A full 
benefits package that we are eating some of that cost.
    Now, you know, when you talk about taking away money, and 
knowing what we are trying to do to scale, it is an incredible 
burden that keeps you up at night. So I agree with you 
wholeheartedly that we need to do something. There needs to be 
policy that is going to help those small businesses. And right 
now I am going to talk about women-owned and minority-owned 
businesses, be able to not only start a business but to grow 
it, to scale it. And then possibly even exit. That is where we 
are headed.
    Ms. VAN DUYNE. I appreciate that very much. And I will 
yield back the remainder of my time. Thank you.
    Chairwoman DAVIDS. Thank you. The gentlewoman yields back.
    The Chair will now recognize Congresswoman Chu.
    Ms. CHU. Yes. Ms. Williams, in April, I introduced my 
legislation, H.R. 2680, the Providing Real Opportunities for 
Growth to Rising Entrepreneurs for Sustained Success, or 
PROGRESS Act. This legislation would support the smallest 
businesses, those without any employees, the sole proprietor, 
by helping them expand and incentivize third party investment. 
And non-employer firms are much more likely to be owned by 
women and female entrepreneurs on average start out with 
roughly half the capital as male entrepreneurs. So this 
legislation would create a refundable payroll tax credit for 
non-employer firms that hire their first full-time employee and 
an investment credit to encourage third-party capital 
investment into non-employer firms.
    So can you talk broadly about how policies to level the 
playing field by incentivizing third-party investment into 
small businesses and the expansion of non-employer firms can 
improve outcomes for female entrepreneurs?
    Ms. WILLIAMS. Thank you very much. And that is another 
great question.
    It most definitely can help to improve. You know, most 
businesses are started as solopreneurs. And then if you start 
to grow, attract contracts, and you cannot do it all alone. You 
cannot. There is no way that you can do everything by yourself. 
So in order to bring on people, you know that you already have 
to have contracts and revenue coming in. Sometimes that is just 
not the case. So to have this ability to receive a tax credit, 
first of all, I can say I will raise my hand because I know 
that I could certainly use it as well. But, you know, this is a 
very good thing. And I do hope that this H.R. 2680 is able to 
make it through in all aspects that is going to really help 
those small businesses, in particular those very small 
solopreneurs to scale and grow their businesses, keeping in 
mind that everyone does not want to have a high growth company. 
There are some people, many, that need a lifestyle type 
business that is going to pay the bills and afford them a great 
life to live. But they also deserve to have that opportunity 
with access to be able to do that.
    Ms. CHU. Thank you for that.
    Ms. Scales, you talked about child and family obligations 
creating barriers for women to start and maintain businesses. 
Congress and President Biden can address these barriers by 
ensuring that all workers, including entrepreneurs have access 
to benefits like paid leave and affordable childcare. So as a 
Member of the Ways and Means Committee, I strongly support 
Chairman Neal's Building an Economy for Families Act discussion 
draft which would provide 12 weeks of universal paid leave for 
all workers and ensure progressive wage replacement for low-
income workers, as well as establish a new childcare 
information network, create a payroll tax credit for childcare 
providers to raise wages, and invest $15 billion into physical 
infrastructure for childcare. So I am so glad that President 
Biden is prioritizing these critical issues in the American 
Families Plan because these policies can help our small 
businesses thrive.
    Now, when I was in the California legislature, I wrote it 
for the nation's first paid family leave because I knew it 
would benefit our state small businesses, including women-owned 
businesses. Women are much more likely to leave the workforce 
because they have to care for loved ones or provide childcare 
for their children which was a reality magnified during the 
pandemic. And in fact, December, this last December marked a 
33-year low in women's labor force participation because of 
this.
    Can you discuss how benefits like a full 12-weeks universal 
paid leave can lower barriers for female entrepreneurship and 
support the long-term care of women-owned businesses?
    Ms. WILLIAMS. Absolutely. You know, when I gave my opening 
statement I kind of tried to set the tone for what a day in the 
life is like for a woman who is juggling working, as well as 
running a business and a household. And supports and 
investments like this go a long way. When you have that burden, 
when you have that pressure off of you for where your children 
will be, will they have safe and affordable and high-quality 
educational opportunities from a childcare perspective? When 
you know that your employees are not thinking about that or 
having to come up with how do I take today off? You know, how 
do I make sure that I show up but still be present? It goes a 
long way.
    And I think back to even my own personal story as a young 
mom and trying to navigate through college and figuring out 
what was next. And I was really fortunate to have support with 
having high quality childcare for my daughter. And it took 
additional burden off of me. And what we are realizing is that 
this burden that our employees are having to face and that this 
burden that our founders and entrepreneurs are having to face 
is beginning to impact not just people economically but 
mentally, emotionally, and socially. And so anything that the 
federal government can do from a responsible standpoint, from a 
responsive standpoint to further support our micro 
enterprising, our entrepreneurs, our women, our mothers is a 
best bet and sure bet for me.
    Ms. CHU. Thank you. I yield back.
    Chairwoman DAVIDS. Thank you. The gentlewoman yields back.
    And next, the Chair will recognize Rep. Young Kim, the 
Ranking Member on the Subcommittee of Innovation, 
Entrepreneurship, and Workforce Development.
    Ms. YOUNG KIM. Thank you, Chair Davids and Ranking Member 
Meuser for holding this very important hearing today. I also 
want to thank our witnesses for being with us.
    As a former woman small business owner and a mother of 
four, I know firsthand the hurdles that women entrepreneurs 
must overcome in order to succeed. the COVID-19 pandemic has 
exacerbated challenges many women entrepreneurs face on a daily 
basis to keep their doors open for business. Lack of access to 
capital, never-ending lockdowns in states like California and 
the looming uncertainty of higher taxes does not empower and 
incentivize our women entrepreneurs to start and grow their 
businesses.
    So Ms. Williams, question for you. In your testimony you 
highlighted H.R. 3842. This is a bill I introduced with my 
colleague, Representative Neguse to establish a microcap SBIC 
certification. Could you further expand on your testimony and 
tell us how the legislation could incentivize greater access to 
capital for women entrepreneurs and for businesses serving 
underrepresented communities?
    Ms. WILLIAMS. Thank you very much for that question.
    You know, as a small, minority, women-owned business, being 
certified as such has really helped to open doors. The WOSB 
program, women-owned small business and also being certified 
through the National Minority Supplier Development Council and 
the Women's Business Enterprise National Council, all of these 
open doors. But opening doors is only one thing.
    Since the pandemic and not being able to be face to face 
where you can really establish those relationships, you can get 
mentoring. People can connect with you, see that body language. 
It takes away from what you are really able to do. Anything 
that any of the Committee Members can do to assist us with 
having more access, not just to capital, okay, because capital 
is important but it is not just capital. It is access to 
individuals that can help us, mentoring programs. All of these 
things make a difference. And I do hope, and I am not that 
familiar with the legislation, but I do hope that what I am 
saying in my testimony will help in some way to expand upon 
that.
    Ms. YOUNG KIM. Thank you.
    You know, in your testimony you also offered suggestions to 
improve the SBA's Small Business Investment Company program. So 
have you received financing through the SBIC program?
    Ms. WILLIAMS. No, I have not. And the SBIC program I will 
say is actually a pretty cumbersome program to get through. I 
equate it pretty similarly to the PPP. And if you are not used 
to a lot of paperwork or how to navigate it, you know, it can 
be pretty daunting. Now, at the same time you have 
organizations out there that will assist you for a price. And 
so, you know once again you still need the money to do it. I 
received PPP. I did receive a small EIDL. But outside of that, 
there has been absolutely nothing.
    Ms. YOUNG KIM. Well, I hope we can continue to be a 
resource to you, and I hope that you can take advantage of 
several SBA related programs. And we would love to be there to 
help you if we can.
    But next, I would like to ask a question to Ms. Scales. In 
your testimony, you stated 70 percent of small businesses that 
receive mentoring survive 5 more years, and 93 percent of small 
businesses have noted that mentoring has helped them succeed. 
In your experience, what drives individuals to become a mentor? 
And do you have any suggestions on how the SBA's resource 
partners, like Women Business Centers and SCORE can improve 
their mentorship and outreach?
    Ms. SCALES. Oh, thank you so much for that question. We are 
passionate about mentoring and connecting mentors to small 
businesses, particularly women of color businesses.
    When you ask what drives people to serve as a mentor, and I 
think that has, you know, one of my favorite responses is it 
depends. But I think at some point you do get to a level where 
you find that you are in a position to be able to give back and 
you really want to make sure that you are doing your part to 
support the next generation of whatever. If it is entrepreneurs 
or young people who are coming up. But when we think about the 
importance of mentoring and why it is so important for women of 
color entrepreneurs is that representation matters. That being 
able to see and connect with and learn from others who have 
been in your shoes, who understand your plight is super 
critical. And so for even the approach that we take at Walker's 
Legacy, we have an accelerated program called Prospectus and 
Women Who Enterprise. And a core part of that is making sure 
that we are connecting women in those cohorts to mentor, 
particularly mentors of color because so often we know that 
they do not get access to these additional network that we know 
are critical to supporting their sustainability and their 
expansion.
    Beyond that, one of the things that we also note with 
mentoring is that it creates a space in place for our 
entrepreneurs to be able to receive resources beyond the 
financial contributions, beyond some of the contractual things 
that they are able to access, but having someone that is a real 
thought partner and leader in supporting their growth.
    Ms. YOUNG KIM. Thank you both. I know my time has expired. 
Thank you. I yield back.
    Chairwoman DAVIDS. Thank you. The gentlelady yields back.
    Next, the Chair will recognize Representative Evans for 5 
minutes.
    Mr. EVANS. Thank you, Madam Chair.
    Ms. Williams, welcome. It is great to have you here as a 
Black female entrepreneur whose business is located in West 
Chester, Pennsylvania, just outside of my home city of 
Philadelphia. I understand that you started your business after 
you lost your job in corporate America.
    Can you speak a little bit more about your entrepreneur 
econ system, how you got started, how can we help create a 
situation where all women entrepreneurs have a robust support 
and entrepreneur ecosystem?
    Ms. WILLIAMS. Thank you very much. And I am really happy to 
be here and to see representation as well from Pennsylvania. So 
it makes me kind of feel at home.
    You know, mentoring. We have talked about mentoring. And it 
is often mentioned as a helpful tool as you said. It helps with 
the relationships but it is about relationships that actually 
matter. You know, networking for the sake of networking really 
helps nobody. So knowing that you have an advocate within an 
organization or an industry that has your back can provide a 
tremendous boost of confidence. And I will give you an example.
    I am in a mentor protege program, PACT. Mr. Meuser, you 
might be familiar with this. It is the Philadelphia Alliance of 
Capital and Technology. And PACT partners startup companies 
with teams of mentors who are seasoned entrepreneurs themselves 
with decades of experience. Now, while volunteers similar to 
SCORE, these seasoned entrepreneurs must have founded or led a 
company as an entrepreneur. And it is a joint partnership 
between PACT and the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of 
southeastern Pennsylvania who provides matching capital. So you 
see where that goes. It is a two-way street. They are giving 
something but you are able to potentially get something back. 
And so for me, after having lost my position, a very lucrative 
position by the way in corporate America, I made the decision 
that this idea of filling the gap that was needed to help 
people with their health and well-being, but that it is for 
everyone through the lens of social determinants of health was 
so important that it was necessary to do that. We are, by the 
way, we happen to be a C corp but we are also a public benefit 
corporation because what you do and how you look at everyone 
matters and that is what we believe. And that is what I 
believe. I get pretty passionate about this, and I could go on 
and on and I do not want to take up all the time but would love 
to have an offline conversation.
    Mr. EVANS. Thank you.
    Prior to the pandemic, Ms. Scales, women of color accounted 
for 50 percent of all women-owned businesses. However, there is 
a stark revenue disparity between minorities and non-minority 
women-owned businesses. Women minority owned businesses average 
just over 65,000 while nonminority women own on average over 
218,000. What do you think contributes to this disparity and 
how can Congress help? Ms. Scales?
    Ms. SCALES. Contributing to that disparity. Wow, we could 
be here for a long time.
    I think it comes down to a few things. We have talked about 
mentoring. And behind mentoring is being able to have those 
access to additional networks and markets. Right? And we have 
talked about the impact of having access to capital, or I like 
to say the barriers to accessing capital. Absolutely. And 
technology integration into service delivery. But just as 
importantly is the additional responsibilities that are often 
placed upon women of color entrepreneurs where they do not have 
some of the flexibility, having the additional resources to be 
able to step back in a more strategic way to think of how they 
are sustaining, scaling, and growing their business. We are so 
often moving quickly, pivoting, juggling so much. So there are 
many I think factors that contribute to that but access to 
markets and new networks and having the removal of barriers 
that are impacting them from accessing capital and just having 
the additional supports to remove some of the burdens that also 
interfere with their abilities to focus and scale and sustain 
their business unequivocally service issues.
    Mr. EVANS. Real quick. I think I have a little time.
    Ms. Williams, do you have any reaction to that question I 
just asked?
    Ms. WILLIAMS. First, and I know that we are out of time, 
but we can always, always do more. Starting a business is 
daunting in its own right. But there is only so many cohorts 
around. There are only so many applications that you can fill 
out and then hope with a wing and a prayer, like you are 
submitting a resume into a blackhole, that somebody is going to 
recognize it. And it comes back to the relationships and being 
able to have those doors opened so that you do not just fall 
into a blackhole. Venture capital is not for everyone. Okay? 
Grants. We need more grants. We need more other ways to provide 
capital. And the banks, you know, they have a set of criteria 
that women do not always fall into very neatly, and especially 
women of color. And so these are all things that really need 
emphasis. And we need to find creative measures to ensure that 
small businesses, those entrepreneurs and especially those 
women-owned businesses that might have the bakery shop, that 
might have the hair salon. You know, they are just as 
important. Well, I am going to stop there because I could go on 
and on and I see the time. Thank you.
    Mr. EVANS. Thank you. I yield back the rest of my time. 
Madam Chair, thank you.
    Chairwoman DAVIDS. Thank you. The gentleman yields back.
    The Chair will now recognize Rep. Bourdeaux for 5 minutes.
    Ms. BOURDEAUX. Thank you, Chairwoman Davids and Ranking 
Member Meuser. And thank you to our witnesses for taking the 
time to speak with us today.
    In the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, women-
owned businesses experienced significant growth, but once the 
COVID-19 pandemic hit, this growth came to an abrupt halt. 
Prior to the pandemic, 67 percent of male-owned businesses 
ranked the overall health of their business as good, compared 
to 60 percent of women-owned businesses. However, we know that 
the pandemic has disproportionately affected women-owned 
businesses, and the numbers bear that out. Male-owned 
businesses only saw a drop of about 5 percent in that same 
metric in July of 2020 to 62 percent, while that number among 
women-owned businesses fell 13 percent, from 60 percent to 47 
percent. A similar disparity can be seen in a recent survey by 
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce which indicates that in 2021, less 
than half of women entrepreneurs believe their revenue will 
increase compared to almost 60 percent of male owners who 
believe the same. Despite the significant federal relief, too 
many women-owned small businesses are really still struggling 
to recover from the pandemic.
    This is a question for Ms. Turner. The pandemic has also 
disproportionately affected minority-owned businesses. It is my 
understanding that nationwide in 2020, over 50 percent of the 
people served by our Women's Business Centers were people of 
color. In my district, the WBC in Norcross, Georgia does 
extremely important work, very useful for businesses owned by 
women, and especially women of color. But we are very 
interested in the Community Navigators program and how we can 
use that to be more useful.
    And so one question is, you know, what can we do to do a 
better job of reaching out to diverse communities, and how 
should we target the Community Navigators program to be more 
helpful?
    Ms. TURNER. Thank you for the question. Related to this in 
access to funding and being intentional about serving women of 
color, our organization has been very intentional over the last 
several years and have been able to increase that percentage to 
about 48 percent. So I do believe that there has to be 
intention. Part of the natural way of ensuring that access to 
capital is available to microenterprises and their startup is 
really through a lot of the work that is being done in 
microlending. And I want to really emphasize that because the 
Minority Development Institutions and the Community Development 
Financial Institutions have been doing this work for a long 
time. And it does not mean that we are not attached to the 
connectivity with institutional banking relationships but 
microenterprises are, you know, the technical assistance is 
also provided to that business owner to be able to navigate and 
ensure that the capital that they receive as a borrower 
actually has some growth potential for their business. And I 
cannot overemphasize that this has always been a struggle to 
ensure that these institutions have had the amount of capital 
needed to actually be intentional in those underserved markets. 
So Community Navigator is an example of something that may roll 
out to actually help that connectivity that I think every 
community right now is exploring. And so obviously we welcome 
any of that kind of connectivity if that is helpful.
    Ms. BOURDEAUX. I am very interested in the microlending 
programs and how we really get that into the community. I meet 
with small business owners all the time and women, and I do not 
know how many times, even though we have all these resources 
available for them, they just do not know about it and it is 
really surprising to me. We have just got to keep pushing. Keep 
pushing on that.
    On that note, we have had some really important programs in 
the pandemic that have helped small businesses and actually 
have reached a much broader community. Are there any programs 
or pieces of programs or parts of them that we should consider 
continuing as we recover from the pandemic?
    Ms. TURNER. You know, anything, I think it has been stated 
prior by the other witnesses today, is any kind of small 
business tax incentives can be helpful long term. I think the 
World Bank assessment of the United States has us listed as 
53rd in the easiness, the ease of being able to start a 
business. And in the United States that is just not acceptable. 
I think the work that is being done, as long as clients can 
actually find the resource, to your point, which is why I think 
a suggestion of making sure that we have that digital presence, 
you know, it is all shifted. Right? And being able for people 
to find those resources. What has been done with the PPP and 
the EIDL loan and even communities that have created their own 
relief funding programs has absolutely elevated access to 
capital for those underserved markets. We just have to keep it 
going.
    Ms. BOURDEAUX. Thank you so much. We are out of time. I 
yield back.
    Chairwoman DAVIDS. Thank you. The gentlewoman yields back.
    All right. Well, I really appreciate our witnesses who have 
taken the time out of what I am sure are very busy schedules to 
join us today. Your testimony has illuminated many of the 
problems that female business owners face. And I appreciate you 
sharing your stories. And of course, your insights and valuable 
recommendations for what we can be doing. All of you come from 
different communities across the country but you have described 
some pretty similar ways that our small businesses really need 
support, that women small businesses need support in this 
economy because right now what we are seeing is not quite 
working. And being the venue to listen and hear from the voices 
of small businesses in Washington, we have to work as a 
Committee to remove the obstacles and barriers that we heard 
about today so that we can get the playing field leveled. And 
without a full recovery for women-owned businesses, we are not 
going to be able to move past the economic crisis that we have 
seen because of a public health crisis that we have been in. 
And I am looking forward to working with my fellow Committee 
Members to address the issues that we have heard about today 
and build a better economy for female entrepreneurs and for 
their employees.
    I would ask unanimous consent that Members have 5 
legislative days to submit statements and supporting materials 
for the record.
    Without objection, so ordered.
    And if there is no further business to come before the 
Committee, we are adjourned. Thank you.
    [Whereupon, at 11:24 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
                            
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