[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 113 (Tuesday, September 1, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S9800]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             12th ANNUAL ENTREPRENEURIAL WOMEN'S CONFERENCE

 Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today to offer my 
congratulations to the Women's Business Development Center (WBDC) as it 
celebrates the 12th Annual Entrepreneurial Women's Conference. The 
event, which is to be held on September 9, 1998, at Chicago's Navy 
Pier, will celebrate the Women's Business Development Center's second 
decade of outstanding service to women in the business community.
  The Women's Business Development Center is a Chicago-based nonprofit 
women's business assistance center devoted to providing services and 
programs that support and accelerate the growing role of women business 
owners in the economy. Since its founding in 1986 by Carol Dougal and 
Hedy Ratner, the Women's Business Development Center has facilitated 
more than $20 million in women's business loans and has assisted women-
owned businesses in gaining over $90 million of government and private 
contracts. More than 30,000 women business owners have benefitted from 
the following programs and services: counseling, workshops, 
entrepreneurial training, the Women's Business and Finance Programs, 
the Women's Business Enterprise Initiative, the Entrepreneurial Woman's 
Conference and the Women's Business and Buyers Mart.
  The success of the Women's Business Development Center has inspired 
similar initiatives across the country. Women's business development 
programs modeled after the Center have been launched by economic 
development organizations in Indiana, Ohio, Florida, Massachusetts, and 
Pennsylvania. The tremendous inroads made by women in the business 
community over the past decade is due in no small part to the efforts 
of these organizations.
  Mr. President, there are now more than 7.7 million women-owned 
businesses in the United States, and 250,000 of these businesses are 
located in my homestate of Illinois. Nationally, women's businesses 
generate $2.3 trillion of sales and employ one out of every four U.S. 
company workers.
  Given the importance of women-owned businesses to the economy, I look 
forward to hearing about the continued successes of the Women's 
Business Development Center in the years to come. Once again let me 
offer my congratulations to the Women's Business Development Center on 
their 12th anniversary.

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