Female owners of small businesses in America are eagerly awaiting the implementation of a women's procurement program, it has been revealed.
According to the Los Angeles Times, women in the US who own small enterprises could be helped by legislation which sets a target for five per cent of all federal small-business contracts to be awarded to female-run firms.
Although the legislation was passed in 2000, it has yet to be fully introduced by the Small Business Administration (SBA), meaning many companies have suffered, the newspaper reports.
Citing the House Small Business Committee, the publication said that currently only three per cent of contracts are awarded to women's firms, leaving a finance gap of around $5 billion (£2.45 billion).
"Our federal business has just about completely disappeared," Rae Walker, president and owner of Axiom Medical, said. "The women's procurement program could help us fight that battle."
This week, the SBA submitted a new rule for interagency review, which it claimed would do more to help female businesses secure federal contracts.
|